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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28739379">Time for a Change</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomaMarufixx/pseuds/RomaMarufixx'>RomaMarufixx</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Apritello, Cunnilingus, F/M, Hand Jobs, Leorai - Freeform, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Sex Toys, Slow Burn, Vaginal Fingering</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:27:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,483</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28739379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomaMarufixx/pseuds/RomaMarufixx</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>April embarrasess herself in front of her friends, especially Donnie, when she gets drunk on New Years Eve. She realises that her most recent relationship caused her to pull away from those closest to her and she needs to work towards building her relationships with her friends back to how they used to be and maybe more with a certain turtle who used to have a huge crush on her. </p><p>Slow burn Apritello with background Leorai and Raph/Mona. Everyone is in their mid-twenties.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Donatello/April O'Neil (TMNT), Karai/Leonardo (TMNT)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. January - Happy New Year</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by writing prompts on tumblr https://creativepromptsforwriting.tumblr.com/post/639116370382127104/january-prompts-word-prompts-to-use-for-doodling</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When April woke up her first thought was, <em> I need to throw up. </em>Luckily she’d made it to her bathroom before she did, emptying her stomach into her toilet, not caring that some of her hair fell into the bowl, she’d drag herself into the shower in a minute, the clean herself up and hopefully make her feel a hell of a lot better than how she did now. </p><p> </p><p>It had been New Years Eve and like many past years she’d spent it down in the lair with the turtles, Casey Jones and Karai. But unlike most of their previous new years, she didn’t remember this one. Even though she was old enough to legally drink, she usually only had a couple of beers, some wine or even a glass of champagne if they had a bottle.</p><p> </p><p>This New Years however April had decided to drown herself in alcohol after having such a crap year. She’d lost her job and even though she hadn’t enjoyed her work, it brought in enough money to support herself and she was left struggling to make ends meet for a few months and relying on others for support before she’d found another job. </p><p> </p><p>Her love life had also gone south. At the beginning of the year, she’d found a guy she’d really gotten along with, he was tall, handsome and smart, he just seemed perfect. She enjoyed his company and he was always happy to go along with whatever April wanted to do whether it was go out somewhere or spend the night indoors. The sex was good as well, once they’d got past the awkwardness, he’d told her he’d only slept with a couple of people before her.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t like April had a long list of lovers either, thanks to her secret life she hadn’t really been able to date, she was twenty by the time she’d actually dated someone long enough to consider sleeping with them and that had been a mess and just awful, luckily the second guy was better and this guy was the third and had actually been the best of the three. </p><p> </p><p>But he’d got a job on the west coast and couldn’t turn it down, he didn’t want to put them through trying something long distance, so he’d ended things just before moving in November. She’d been upset at the time but wished him all the best for the future.</p><p> </p><p>And such, her night had been used to get rid of all the negative emotions from the past year and had left her with a blank spot in her memory. </p><p> </p><p>Pulling her head out of the bowl, she flushed the toilet and stood up. She groaned as she removed her clothes, throwing them into her hamper before starting up the shower, sighing when she stepped under the hot water, letting it wash away the horrible smell and soothing her aching body. </p><p> </p><p>The shower had made her feel much better, as did brushing her teeth and changing into some fresh, clean clothes. </p><p> </p><p>Now that she was feeling slightly less hungover, she tried to remember what she’d done in her drunken state but still nothing came to her. She checked her phone to see if any texts or photos could jog her memory but there was nothing but a missed call from Casey, from a few minutes before she’d woke up, so she dialled Casey’s number, hoping that he would be able to fill in the blanks of her memory.</p><p> </p><p>“Yo!” he answered.</p><p> </p><p>“Casey, I need to ask you something…” she started but was ignored as Casey talked over her.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey April? How are you feeling this morning?”</p><p> </p><p>“Shut it Jones, how are you even awake right now?” she spat and regretted raising her voice.</p><p> </p><p>“I didn’t drink that much...I was too busy watching the show you were putting on last night.”</p><p> </p><p>“What are you talking about?” April asked, panicked and Casey laughed on the other end of the phone, making her wish he was in front of her so she could punch him in the face. </p><p> </p><p>“Maybe you should ask Karai, she was taking photos and filming most of the night, I’m sure she can fill you in on what happened.” Casey said before laughing again and April hung up on him without another word, swinging her bedroom door open and heading towards her roommate’s bedroom.</p><p> </p><p>“Karai?” She called out, but her room was empty, so she walked back to their sitting room and then spotted the woman standing in the kitchen. “Karai!”</p><p> </p><p>“Good morning sunshine, I didn’t expect you to be up so early after last night.”</p><p> </p><p>“What happened last night?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh what, you don’t remember?” Karai teased as she finished making herself a cup of tea. “Want some coffee?”</p><p> </p><p>“I want to know what happened last night, Casey couldn’t stop laughing on the phone and told me to ask you because apparently you were filming and taking pictures of everything!”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, we all had to put up with you moaning about your breakup and all the bad things about Harry or whatever his name was...and then you decided to get all up in Donnie’s personal space and ask him if he thought you were pretty and why would someone leave you for a job.” Karai smirked. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh god...what else?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, let’s see...you couldn’t keep your hands off him, you kissed him on the neck and the cheek, you asked him if you had enough boob to motorboat and if he wanted to give it a try. You tried to give him a lapdance, at least I’m assuming that was what you were trying to do...Oh! And you asked him how big his dick was...actually you asked all of the turtles that, not Casey though, does that mean you already know?”</p><p> </p><p>It took awhile for April’s brain to catch up with everything Karai was saying and she could feel her face heating up. </p><p> </p><p>“Oh no…and no I do not know how big Casey’s dick is!”</p><p> </p><p>“Just not interested in him?” Karai laughed.</p><p> </p><p>“You got all of that on video?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yes.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh my god, I think I’m going to be sick again.” April said as she held her hand against her mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Please make it to the bathroom, if you puke, I probably will as well.” Karai said, all humour dropping from her face.</p><p> </p><p>“I need to call Donnie...I need to apologise…” April muttered to herself as she walked out of the kitchen. </p><p> </p><p>“Happy New Year!” Karai called after her, laughing into her tea.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. January - Progress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April didn’t want to apologise to Donnie over the phone, so she’d sent him a text asking him if it was okay if she came down to the lair today. As usual, Donnie didn’t keep her waiting for a response, telling her of course it was okay and to come down whenever. She told him she was on her way and put on her coat, hat, scarf and gloves before making her way out of the apartment, ignoring Karai, and down into the sewers to make the trek to the lair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As she walked through the cold tunnels, she began to feel more and more anxious as well as embarrassed at seeing her friends after what she had done, she hoped that they were all asleep still, maybe sleeping off hangovers, she wasn’t even sure if they had drank enough to get drunk like she had but at the moment she hoped they did. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When she walked into the lair, it was dark and there was nobody around. There was a light on in the lab and she walked in that direction, stopping as she reached the doors to give one last thought to what she was going to say to Donnie. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, I’m sorry about what happened…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April.” She almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of the turtle’s voice and spun around, embarrassed that she didn’t see or sense him coming up behind her. “But what exactly are you apologising for?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, well, all that I did and said yesterday, you know like...like...um, like the motorboating thing?” She tried to smile but it was weak.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh </span>
  <em>
    <span>that.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Donnie chuckles, but like her smile, it’s weak. “Don’t worry about it April, you were </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>drunk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes I was, but it doesn’t mean that I should have said or done anything like that to make you feel uncomfortable.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was more amusing than anything...I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” Donnie said and walked past her to go into his lab. She followed close behind him, not wanting their conversation to end. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know but I still feel so embarrassed and ashamed, I didn’t mean for you to get the brunt of my...post break up drinking.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honestly April, it’s fine.” Donnie said and she could feel how genuine he was being but he was also holding back. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...if you say so, I haven’t watched the videos or seen any of the photos so I’m just going by what Karai told me happened last night...so I may not actually know all that happened.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did she tell you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, well, she told me that I was talking about Harry and our break up and apparently I couldn’t keep my hands off you…” April couldn’t feel her face getting warmer but she kept speaking, “I wanted to know if I had enough boob to motorboat...asked you if you wanted to, tried to give you a lapdance and...asked appropriate questions.”   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That pretty much sums up what you did,” Donnie laughed, “aside from during the lap dance you also tried to take your shirt off…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But Karai quickly stopped you and you two didn’t stay for much longer after that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, I’m so sorry…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honestly April, you don’t have to keep apologising.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This was definitely not how I expected to start my new year...I was determined for this year to change, to be different...I guess I’m not making much progress.” April laughed and Donnie rolled his eyes at her and shook his head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s literally the first day of the year, you still have 364 days to make progress.” He smiled at her and she instantly felt better. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think one thing to do to make progress would be to avoid alcohol.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like a good plan.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m dreading seeing your brothers...not to mention Casey, I phoned him this morning and he couldn’t stop laughing.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well...it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> funny.” Donnie said and bit his lip, like he was trying not to laugh himself. “But don’t worry about my brothers, if they say anything, I’ll make sure that they regret it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks D, you’re the best.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No problem April...maybe you should get some sleep, I doubt you got much last night...or this morning even.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I was kinda woken up by the need to throw up,” she laughed and so did Donnie, “I’ll let you get on...I’ll see you soon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course...let me know when you get back to your apartment.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will do.” April said as she waved a goodbye before she disappeared out of eyesight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie kept up his smile until she was gone and let it drop. His shoulders slumped and his eyelids half closed. He hated the lies, the fake smiles and the fake happy personality he’d had to put on for April over the past year, luckily she was barely in the lair often, it was so much easier over text, when she couldn’t see his face, his body or feel what he was feeling. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d become a master of shielding his aura, how he truly felt from how April had believed that he wasn’t completely miserable and embarrassed over what had happened last night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d tried to play things off last night, try and distance himself from the girl who was all over him, but she wouldn’t let him go. Karma at work for all those years when they were teeangers. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Karai finally pulled April away and decided to call it a night, Donnie had offered to walk them back to their apartment, to make sure they got home safe but Karai had turned his offer down, she’d only had two drinks and was more than capable of looking after the two of them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As soon as they were gone, his brothers and Casey had started razzing him on everything that had happened, teasing him about his feelings and he didn’t hear much else as he shut himself in his room to sulk about the night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d been excited to see April in person after so long and wouldn’t stop talking about it to his brothers, and she’d proceeded to get drunk and embarrass both of them. At least they’d known better, they’d known April would be drinking to forget her break up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She apologised and Donnie had accepted, now things would probably go back to the new normal and he wouldn’t see her again for another number of months, more months of hurt and disappointment as a huge part of his life slipped further and further away.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. January - Resolutions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I’ve never made any before, I don’t see why I should this year.” Karai moaned as she sunk into the couch next to April, glass of red wine in her hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Come on, don’t you have any goals for this year?” April asked and Karai pretended to think for a moment before answering. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Get a new roommate?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Rude.” April glared at the dark haired woman who cackled in response. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Seriously though April, people have the same resolutions every year and it’s always the same thing, stop drinking, stop smoking, lose some weight, join the gym, get a boyfriend, ecterra...” Karai trailed on, noticing that April shifted slightly when she mentioned getting a boyfriend. “You’re not already thinking about getting another guy are you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong with that?” Karai rolled her eyes and took a swig of her wine before answering. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look, Harry was great, sweet but...and the guys would kill me for mentioning it to you...but you spent a lot of time away from them and the lair and the whole kunoichi lifestyle...they missed you but they were happy for you to have a bit of normalcy in your life and happiness after you lost your job...they were coming to terms with maybe they wouldn’t see you again one day.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I…” April didn’t know what to say, Karai’s words and the unusual sullen look on her face hurt her. “I didn’t realise I was spending so much time away…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And of course one turtle took it worse than the rest.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Poor guy was heartbroken that you had replaced him,” she teased. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Replaced him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh come on, Harry was like the human version of Donatello...just extra boring.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean by that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Exactly what I said...you dated the human version of the turtle that you apparently have no feelings for, who has been crushing on you since he was a teenager.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And what about the turtle who has a crush on you?” April couldn’t help but throw in Karai’s face, feeling both flustered and angry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh you mean Leonardo? My </span>
  <em>
    <span>boyfriend</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What! When?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just over a year.” Karai shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did I not know about this?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When we first got together we didn’t want to tell anyone and when I was going to tell you, you and Harry got together and then you were always with him here and I couldn’t exactly bring a giant turtle to the apartment with him around so I spent a lot of my time in the lair until you two broke up...hey, maybe your new year's resolution or whatever could be to fix things with Donnie.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He seemed fine when we spoke the other day...when I apologised for everything I did and said to him at New Years.” April explained, her face heating up slightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well he’s not going to tell you how he really feels if he knows it’s going to hurt you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie’s my best friend, he tells me everything.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He </span>
  <em>
    <span>used</span>
  </em>
  <span> to tell you everything.” Karai said and April opened her mouth to reply but instead she just sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have I pulled away from everyone?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes...Leo was actually going to speak to you about it a few months after you and Harry started dating.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t he?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because I told him not to...it wasn’t going to be a nice conversation, he was angry, mostly just because of how hurt Donnie was,” April frowned deeply as Karai spoke, “he didn’t mind that you had pulled away from them, but he thought that you would come and explain to them that you would be spending less time in the lair and with them...but you never told them, they just started seeing you less and less as time went on.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe it would have been for the best if you let Leo yell at me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Honestly...I didn’t see much point, I didn’t think you and Harry were going to last much longer after that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really? Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um...I dunno, he </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> boring and after all we've been through in our lives I thought you would want someone who would be a lot more exciting but apparently not.” Karai shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I liked him, Karai, he was…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Normal?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Different.” April shot back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm okay,” Karai said before an evil grin spread across her face, “so, if you want, I can give you some insider information on what the turtles have under their shells, although I do only have first hand experience with one of them.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I think I’m ready to turn in for the night…” April said as she stood up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh come on, you’re the one who wanted to know!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April ignored her and kept walking to her bedroom. She did not want to hear details about Leonardo’s penis, she also knew that if she knew what his looked like, her thoughts would only turn to...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She shook her head as she thought of what else she and Karai had talked about. She pulled out her phone and checked through it, looking for every call and text that she had sent the guys during the past year. She hadn’t text or called Raph since August, she hadn’t text or called Leo since around the same time, Mikey was in September but she and Donnie text each other at least every other day but their calls were much less frequent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She tried to remember when the last time she’d been down to the lair was, aside from New Years and she honestly couldn’t remember, maybe the guys birthdays? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She would head down to the sewers tomorrow and talk to Donnie again, getting some first hand information from one of the turtles that she had been pulling away from and started thinking of a plan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April officially decided that she was going to spend however long it took to build back up her relationships with the turtles, especially Donnie. </span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. January - Cold</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April would usually just drop by the lair unannounced when she was younger, it must have been when her visits became far and few that she started letting one of the brothers know that she would be dropping by, as not to take them by surprise. How oblivious to herself was she? She knew that she was pulling away but must have ignored it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time when she’d walked into the lair, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo were sitting in the pit, talking and watching television, but as soon as April came into their peripheral vision, they turned towards her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi guys.” April said, walking towards them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey April.” They all greeted her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, I wanted to apologise to you all...for how I acted on New Years.” There were smiles from Raph and Mikey, only Leo remained neutral and he was the one that answered for all of them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April...you were very drunk and we did try and stop you from drinking too much but...you were adamant that you would be drinking a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...sorry, I kinda wanted to forget…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“All about the break up, we get it Ape.” Mikey smiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have ya’ apologised to Don?” The turtle in red asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I did a few days ago.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so you just remembered us?” Leo asked, his face and tone completely serious and April bit her tongue. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You weren’t around the last time I was here,” she answered before walking off towards the kitchen, not wanting to continue the conversation if they were going to be that way, it was obvious that she would need to build her realtionship with Donnie back to normal before she’d get a chance to with Leo, Raph and Mikey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a cold day and even with the heating system on higher than normal, there was still a chill in the lair. She decided to make herself and Donnie something hot to drink, a hot chocolate for her and a black coffee for Donnie. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She walked past the brothers, holding her head high as she walked from the kitchen to Donnie’s lab with the two mugs. When she got to the doors, she checked he wasn’t holding anything he could drop or using anything that could hurt him if he spilled it if she startled him, before calling out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you busy?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He spun around in his chair and smiled upon seeing her walk towards him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh no, not at the moment.” Donnie smiled and accepted the coffee handed to him. “And what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again so soon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was like a stab to the heart, the way he phrased that, confirming that she was clearly not around as much as she used to be. She felt tears come into her eyes, dammit why was she feeling so emotional now? Her face must have given away how she was feeling, she felt Donnie’s mood shift before she saw his frown. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April? Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I...have I really not been around all that much?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, what do you classify as not all that much?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Before New Years, when did I last come here or when did we last hang out?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um...well, I think you texted me when you and Harry broke up and we talked on the phone...we text quite often.” Donnie shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No Donnie, when was I last </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um…” Donnie started, looking up at the ceiling, thinking, “I think you came to the lair for our birthday.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Three months ago?” Just as suspected, such a long time ago.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t even...I swear it feels like I’m here every few days.” April said and sat down on a stool near the turtle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well like I said, we text every few days, maybe that’s why you feel like it is.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But three months Donnie? I spent almost every other day down here for years and some guy comes along and suddenly I just forget you all?” April began to rant, “I disrespect Master Splinter by ignoring my training and…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April please, calm down, it’s okay.” Donnie said as he wrapped his arms around her. April fell into the embrace, pressing herself against Donnie as she held onto him, it felt so good to hug him, even if he was freezing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re cold.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, it is cold down here.” Donnie mumbled with a chuckle and went to pull away from her but she wouldn’t let him, she still wanted to hug him for a while longer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually the two parted and April was feeling much less emotional, she was in a clear head space and now they were going to have a serious talk. Donnie’s mood had shifted too, he was anxious, sad and the frown was still on his face, he probably thought that she was finally going to talk to him about moving away from her old life and they would never see her again, even after what she had just said. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know it seemed like I was getting ready to cut you guys out of my life but I wasn’t...I honestly didn’t realise that I was doing it, I guess I was just so caught up in a relationship going really well that I just let it take over my whole life...you have to promise me that if anything like that you’ll stop me, I can have a relationship and still be here.” April rambled out and waited for Donnie to take it on and respond to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Although I never wanted it to happen...I was ready for you to completely leave, even after you and Harry broke up, I just thought that you would continue on like before, maybe meet another guy and then we would never see you again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...I’ve missed you a lot April.” Donnie said, feeling the most honest he had in a long time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to ban that word soon,” Donnie laughed, “you don’t have to apologise for having a life, none of us knew when it would happen, but we knew you would move on eventually.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere Donatello,” she said and knew that Donnie wasn’t believing her, “I’ll make you believe it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie sighed but didn’t say anything else, looking everywhere around the room but her, like he was trying to think of something to say. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is Leo angry with me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why would Leo be angry with you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He was very...cold and stern when I came into the lair and made a comment about how I’d only just remembered them after I said I had already apologised to you for the other night...Raph was the one who asked if I had apologised to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’ve been...very protective of me recently.” Donnie said, smiling slightly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because of me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, yes,” he shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got a lot of work to do…” April sighed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My brothers will come around, you don’t have to worry about them.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hopefully they will.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They will April, just give them time and maybe we could all do something together soon?” Donnie suggested.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That would be nice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How about a movie night?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That sounds great, I’ll bring some movies? And some snacks?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure my brothers won’t turn that down.” Donnie flashed her a smile and she felt very optimistic for the first time in a while.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. January - Movie Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April’s heart was hammering in her chest, she felt so nervous, exactly how she felt when she was going on a first date, only this wasn’t a date, this was a movie night with her best friend and his brothers who she was trying to make amends with. They’d also invited Casey and Karai along, to make it feel like a proper get together, she’d wanted to ask Raph if he wanted to invite Mona Lisa to join them but then it occurred to her that maybe they weren’t even together anymore? She didn’t want to bring up a sensitive subject and make things worse between her and the guys.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you ready to go?” Karai asked as she knocked on the open door of April’s bedroom door. “Are you wearing a dress?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, oh yeah.” April said, holding out her arms so Karai could see it all. It was a favourite of hers and due to its fabric, high neckline, knee length and long sleeves, she could wear it in colder weather.  She also wore a plain pair of black leggings to keep her legs warm. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A </span>
  <em>
    <span>purple </span>
  </em>
  <span>dress?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April hadn’t thought about the colour of the dress when she bought it, she just thought it looked nice and perfect as a winter dress. Now that she looked at it again it looked like an attempt at trying far too hard and maybe would give off the wrong signal to Donnie and the others. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I...I should change.” April said and went back to her wardrobe, finding a thick jumper and a pair of jeans, couldn’t go wrong with that combo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karai said nothing as she stood and waited for April to get dressed, checking the time on her watch to make sure they weren’t going to be super late.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When did you get that watch?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never seen it before,” April said, picking up her bag and walking over to Karai to get a better look, “it’s really nice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Leo got it for me,” Karai said and felt an unfamiliar flush cover her face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh that was sweet of him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah we were talking about watches...I don’t even remember how we got onto that topic, fairly boring considering what we usually talk about...but I told him I’ve never had a watch and then when I next saw him, he gave me this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And how did you feel about that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“About receiving a gift? He’s given me plenty of gifts before,” Karai shrugged, pulling her arm away from April, “I appreciate all of them but they’re not needed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you let him buy you things because it makes him happy?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve told him not to spend too much money on me...he’s become quite the bargain hunter as a way to work around that rule...I also buy him things as well April, I’m not just using him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wasn't saying that you were!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay...now, we should get going, we were meant to be at the lair for seven, we’re already ten minutes late.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You never cared about being late before.” April said as they walked through the apartment to their door. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe it’s the watch,” Karai laughed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, what are we watching?” Donnie asked as the gang settled in the pit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, there’s the Train to Busan trilogy that I’ve been wanting to watch for a long time, I thought we could watch that…” April said as she held the box set in her hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s that about?” Raph asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is that the Korean zombie movie?” Mikey asked, excited and April laughed as she handed over the box to Mikey. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes it is.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And there’s three of them?” Leo asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s the Train to Busan movie and then there is an animated prequel, Seoul Station and a sequel, Peninsula.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A zombie movie is good with me.” Karai said as she made herself comfortable on Leo’s lap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah me too...wait, is it dubbed? I hate dubbed stuff.” Casey asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s got subtitles.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So...is everyone okay with the movies?” April asked and got positive comments all around, so she put the movie in the player and took her seat between Casey and Donnie, where she felt most comfortable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The snacks and cans of soda were passed around so everything had something to eat and drink during the movie with April and Donnie sharing a bowl of popcorn.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The film was interesting to everyone and even had the guys tearing up towards the end, April had buried her face in Donnie’s bicep so that the others couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. Casey got up to change the disc and put in the next movie, knowing that April needed some time to collect herself. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You picked a good movie.” Donnie whispered to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I know that anything gory goes down well with you guys...it was just a bonus it happened to be a movie I’d been wanting to see for a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you should pick the movies for the next time we do this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to.” April smiled before getting comfortable again as the second movie started playing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all agreed it wasn’t as good as the first movie and there was some confusion over the timeline of the story, but all in all it was a good movie and they happily carried on with the third. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I preferred that over the train one,” Raph said when the credits began to roll. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Kinda like fast and furious with zombies,” Mikey chuckled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You picked some good movies tonight Red,” Casey grinned as he took the disc out of the playing to put back in the box before passing it to April. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we should have another movie night soon, when everyone is free?” Donnie suggested and everyone vocalised their enthusiasm at having another movie night together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You got any other awesome movies at home?” Mikey asked April.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’ve got some I think you’d enjoy...does that mean I’m in charge of bringing the movie for next time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup!” Mikey said and started collecting what was left of their snacks and drinks, taking them into the kitchen, probably to eat without the others seeing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Karai, do you…” April started to say but was cut off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I’ll stay here for the night,” Karai grinned, tugging at Leo’s hand to pull him off the couch and towards his bedroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” April smiled, waving them off awkwaderly whilst Mikey and Raph groaned, “um, I’ll see you guys soon,” she said to the others still in the room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you want me to walk you out?” Donnie asked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That would be great Donnie.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They ignored the wolf whistle that came from behind them and walked out of the lair and through the sewers, talking about the movies they just watched as well as picking out possible movies for the next movie night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for walking me back here D, you didn’t really need to come all the way,” April said when they reached the closest sewer entrance to her apartment. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just wanted to make sure you got back here safe.” April pushed herself up so that she could give Donnie a kiss on the cheek before she started to climb up the ladder. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie waited until she had left the sewers before walking back to the lair, using the time by himself to think over the evening. It wasn’t any surprise to him that April would choose the seat beside him or when she’d used his arm to cover her tears, it was things that he had experienced as they had been closer friends by the end of their teens. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried to not go down the path of maybe it meant something more, she was just being friendly, wanting them to be close again after drifting apart for so long. Donnie actually had some hope that things would were going to go back to how they used to be, like April had said but all it would take was another guy to come along and take April away again, he just knew it.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want to build his friendship back up with April knowing she would leave again soon, but at the same time he did and it was causing all sorts of confusing feelings inside him, it felt like he was that dorky teenager chasing after her all over again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was very kind of ya’ to walk your girlfriend home,” Casey teased when Donnie walked through the turnstiles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut it Jones, what are you still doing here anyway, where are Raph and Mikey?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Raph left to go and see Mona Lisa, Mikey’s gone to his room and I’m gonna crash here because my apartment’s too far away.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever, just don’t snore too loudly,” Donnie said as he walked to his bedroom, deciding to go to bed early for once and try and shut his mind down of any thoughts of April.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. January - Snow Storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Great, that’s all I need,” April groaned as the weather report on her television forecast that the snow storm would hit New York in the coming days. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s that?” Karai asked as she walked in from the kitchen.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s a snow storm that’s gonna hit New York.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t like snow?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I did when I was younger but now it’s just a nuisance, it slows everything down, it’ll take me ages to get into work or if I can’t get in I’ll lose a day's wages and we won’t be able to get down to the sewers…” April began to rant before Karai began ignoring her, just watching her mouth move, waiting for it to stop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I guess I’m gonna have to move into the lair until the snow goes away,” Karai said, once the other had finally stopped talking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Can’t bear to be away from Leo for a few days?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“More like can’t bear to be away from his dick,” Karai said and April groaned loudly, “but I’d miss the rest of Leo too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to hear about Leo’s dick, I’ve told you that before!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We used to talk about the guys we dated all the time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know but that’s a bit different than hearing about someone who is like family to me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April, Leo and I have been together for almost a year.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Yes, you’ve told me that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And how many guys have I talked about during that time?” Karai asked and a horrible dawning feeling fell on her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh </span>
  <em>
    <span>god, </span>
  </em>
  <span>all those sex stories were about Leo?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yes.” Karai grinned wildly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The guy who sounds like a porn star in bed?” Karai nodded. “The guy who loved going down on you?” Another nod. “The guy with the out of this world penis?” Yet another nod. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I bet that’s given you a lot to think about now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want to bleach my brain,” April groaned as she rubbed at her temples. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You loved the stories at the time, you always like to hear about the amazing men I take to my bed...it just so happens it was one amazing turtle.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know far too much about Leo than I ever wanted to know.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I bet you’re imagining if Donnie would be similar to Leo,” Karai said and April dropped her arms and glared at her roommate. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, I am not.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever you say O’Neil, I’m gonna go pack some things and then head down to the lair.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later in the day, long after Karai had left, April called Donnie to check in.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Do you guys want me to get you anything? Some extra food or blankets or something?” April asked down the phone as she put her dinner in the oven. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Karai came down with some food and other supplies earlier, apparently she’s going to be staying here in case the snow gets really bad.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay...well if you do need anything else…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll let you know April, thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay...talk soon?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bye D.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Bye April.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The call disconnected and April sighed, she should have known that Karai would take some extra stuff with her for the guys, she probably did that often for them. She felt a bit jealous but knew that she was overreacting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Part of her had wanted to see Donnie and the guys if she wasn’t going to be able to for a few days or at least show her face so they would know that she was going to be worried about them and miss them when the snow would keep them apart. She just hoped that they blamed the snow on keeping April away instead or thinking that she just didn’t want to come down. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The storm hit the following day, bringing plenty of snow into the city and dropping the temperature to almost 30 degrees. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April had received an email the previous day from her office manager, explaining they would be extending the winter break for another week to allow for the snow to clear so they could get back to the office with no problems.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next day there was another email from the office manager, explaining that the New Year would be bringing some tough times and choices and there would be cutbacks to come. Essentially meaning that people in the office who were seen as not as important, would be losing their jobs because the company was so cheap. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April knew that she would have people to fall back on again if she were to lose another job, but she didn’t want to have others support her because she couldn’t find a job that lasted longer than a year. She also knew that it wasn’t her fault that she kept losing her job but she sure felt like a failure, even with a college degree, she couldn’t get anything decent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She spent that night drinking, even though she had been trying to avoid alcohol she thought why not if she was just going to be by herself, she couldn’t cause any trouble.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was nursing a hangover the next day when a call from Donnie came through on her cell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, is everything okay?” April asked and the turtle laughed on the other side of the phone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Everything is fine April, there’s no need to sound so worried I just wanted to check in and see if everything was okay with you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah I’m fine thanks...well, got some bad news emails from my boss but other than that nothing’s happened here.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was the bad news?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re going to be laying people off...well the email just said that there would be cutbacks and I know what that means.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think they’re going to let you go?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Probably, I haven’t been there long enough for them to have to give me a severance package or anything and I’m only an assistant…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t say that April.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s true though D...I guess I better start looking for another job, I thought this one would at least last a few years, not barely one.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can always help with job hunting if you need me to...as soon as the snow’s gone?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’d really appreciate that Donnie, thanks.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I shall be with you as soon as the snow allows.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t wait...so you guys are all okay down there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’re fine April, feeling a little stir crazy but we know it won’t be long until the snow clears and surprisingly Mikey hasn’t eaten everything in the kitchen yet so we still have food.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” April chuckled and for a moment neither say anything, before Donnie felt bad for keeping her on the phone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I should let you get on…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t really have anything else to be doing,” April laughed, looking outside at the snow, “I should have gone to the lair with Karai...I’m actually getting quite lonely here by myself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It would have been nice to have you here, but it is still colder than your apartment would be, even with the heating on and the extra space heaters...I don’t think Master Splinter is appreciating it but he won’t say anything because he knows how badly we suffer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How’s Karai dealing with it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well...there aren’t any heaters in Leo’s room, they don’t need them when they’re keeping each other plenty warm.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don!” April giggled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sorry, but ha, it’s true, they’ve barely come out of his room since Karai came down here a few days ago, they never used to be this bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s nice though isn’t it? Over a year of dating and they still seem like they’re in the honeymoon phase of the relationship.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it started ages before that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They first started hooking up when we were...nineteen or twenty, Leo went out to meet Karai one night and when he came back he couldn’t stop grinning...it wasn’t hard to tell what had happened.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow...Karai never told me about that...so they had a sort of friends with benefits thing going on?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Karai didn’t want a relationship and wanted to keep her options open, Leo was free to do the same but, well, it’s a bit harder for us…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April totally didn’t think about how Donnie was possibly, most probably still a virgin and how she could definitely show him a thing or two. She had always been curious about what Donnie was packing under his shell, hence why her drunk self had asked on New Years Eve (she was just surprised that she hadn’t accidentally asked before) and what it would be like having sex with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She imagined that he would be a gentle lover, making sure that his partner was taken care of but he was capable of being rough and demanding when the mood struck or when his partner asked it of him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April, are you still there?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, sorry, I just...can’t believe that I never noticed anything before, I thought I had just missed a year of them dating but years of them hooking up?” April blabbed out quickly and tried to get her mind off Donnie and sex, glad that Donnie couldn’t see her bright red face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, we only knew because of how Leo was when he came back after spending time with Karai... then she started coming here and they were just </span>
  <em>
    <span>loud…</span>
  </em>
  <span>I had to soundproof his room.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can’t really imagine Leo being...not that I’m thinking about it or ever have I just...</span>
  <em>
    <span>god</span>
  </em>
  <span> I don’t...” April continued to ramble and laugh nervously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April I know what you mean,” Donnie laughed and April cursed herself when she felt her stomach flutter, “but Leo is probably the opposite of anything you may or may not think of him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh god don’t tell me things like that, you’re as bad as Karai!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I find that offensive,” Donnie tried to sound serious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could take it as a compliment...that you are very bold and confident!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never been called that before,” he chuckled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re more bold and confident than you used to be.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That is true…” Donnie chuckled and then there was a loud shout in the background, followed by Donnie shouting back, turning away from the phone so he didn’t hurt April’s eardrums, “sorry April, Mikey’s made us dinner, I better go before he comes in here and drags me to the kitchen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay D, enjoy...whatever Mikey has made for you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will try,” Donnie laughed, “goodbye April.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Goodbye Donnie.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With the conversation not there to distract her anymore, her thoughts went back to how Donnie would be like in bed. It was true that Donnie had grown more bold and confident in the years she had known him but she was sure that in the bedroom he would be the awkward turtle she knew he still was at heart. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April collapsed backwards on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. There was a tingle that went through her body as she tried to imagine more about what Donnie would be like in bed, she tried to ignore it and turn her thoughts to something else but it wasn’t working. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck it</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought as she reached into her nightstand to take out her </span>
  <em>
    <span>purple</span>
  </em>
  <span> vibrator.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What is wrong with me? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why would I buy this in purple? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Was I thinking about Donnie when I brought this?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just because it’s purple doesn’t mean that it’s linked to the turtle wearing the purple mask...right? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She wiggled out of her pants and underwear and turned on the vibrator, immediately pressing it to her clit, wanting a quick release and to focus on her pleasure, but now all she could think about was how Donnie’s fingers would feel on her clit. That definitely helped her reach her release quickly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She lay there on her bed after just thinking, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I masturbated thinking about my best friend and it was the best orgasm I’d had in ages. </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>April, sort your feelings out!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. January - Warm Soup</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Hello?” Donnie answered his phone as he rubbed his other hand across his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey Donnie, I was going to come to the lair tomorrow now the snow’s cleared and was wondering if you wanted me to bring anything? I could grab some pizzas for you guys?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah that sounds nice April,” Donnie croaked before he started coughing and sniffing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sick?” April asked, concerned, Donnie had sounded fine when they’d spoken yesterday.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, I’m fine...honestly, just a tickle in my throat,” Donnie lied.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So um, I’ll see you tomorrow?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“See you tomorrow D,” April said before the call disconnected. She immediately called Raph, who picked up after several rings. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi Raph, is Donnie okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just called him and he was coughing and sniffing and just sounded awful, is he sick?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s so nice you care about him Ape,” April bit her tongue and simply asked again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is Donnie sick?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah he is, tried to play it off but after he nearly passed out Leo made him go to bed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He almost passed out?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, luckily we were watching him because he’s been stumbling around since he woke up this morning, we left him alone in his room but we could hear him moving around so Leo’s just gone to sit with him for a bit to make sure he actually rests.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll come down today and bring him some soup, I can watch him for a few hours and give you guys a break.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to do that April.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know I don’t have to Raphael, I </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Um, okay, I’ll let Leo and Mikey know you’ll be round,” Raph said and hung up without another word. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As soon as April put her phone away she went into her small kitchen and began pulling out various ingredients to start making Donnie some homemade soup. She wasn’t the world’s best cook but soup was something she could make and had been praised for in the past, including by the turtles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you making soup?” Karai asked as she brought some groceries into the kitchen. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, vegetable,” she answered as she stirred the liquid, “well, I was going for cream of vegetable, but it’s not very thick.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why are you making soup anyway?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I phoned Donnie earlier and he sounded very stuffy but said he was fine, so I called Raph and he told me that Donnie was sick, so I’m making him some soup.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s so nice that you’re making soup for your </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I am doing this for my </span>
  <em>
    <span>friend.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” April rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to feed it to him as well?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure he is able to eat his soup by himself.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm...okay.” Karai hummed as she left the kitchen. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April got back to cooking her soup, picking out one of her food thermos to put the soup in when it was done, to keep it warm for the trip to the lair. As she filled up the thermos she thought maybe she’d made too much but at least he could keep some for later if he couldn’t eat it all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even though she hadn’t told Raph when she was coming down, Leo was standing by the entrance of the lair, waiting for her. He smiled when he saw her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was nice of you to come and look after Donnie,” Leo greeted her, completely sincere and different to the way he had been when April had seen him previously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He’s my friend, you all are and if I can help in any way, I want to...you should go and watch tv or just relax for a while and I’ll watch over him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks April,” he smiled and April put the thermos down on the ground so she could throw her arms around Leo in a hug, ignoring how he tensed up for a few seconds. He recovered quickly and returned the hug, squeezing her gently. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s nice to have you around more April.” Leo mumbled against her head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to get sick of seeing me soon.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Never,” Leo laughed before pulling away and clearing his throat. “I should probably let you bring that to Donnie,” he smiled at her before turning around and walking towards the pit. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Feeling elated at what had happened between her and Leo, April had a spring in her step as she made her way to Donnie’s bedroom. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey D.” April entered his room with a bright smile, even though how haggard Donnie looked made her inwardly frown.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April...what are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Raph told me you were sick, so I made you some soup,” she said, holding up the thermos, “why did you tell me you were fine?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t want you to worry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you not want me to be here?” April asked as she pulled Donnie’s desk chair over to the side of the bed so she could sit down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Donnie frowned at her and April held back to urge to roll her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did you not want me to be here...I told you I was going to make things right between us but...do you not want that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course I want you here April, you’re my best friend.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>He was your best friend </span>
  </em>
  <span>rang out in her head, the words Karai had said to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been a crap best friend.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You...you haven’t been very um, present...” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, I’ve been a crap best friend.” April repeated.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“April…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me Donatello, you can say whatever you are feeling and I’m going to listen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay…” Donnie sighed and then took a deep breath before continuing, “It took me a long time to get over...how I felt about you but then we became closer and I our friendship was perfect, you didn’t have to spend as much time with me as you did but you were always there for me, to talk or to listen about my inventions or experiments and to help out and we made one hell of a team out on patrols, so to have that just yanked out of my life without warning, after so many years, it was...a hard hit and I was angry and upset but I never wanted to make you feel guilty for...being normal, you didn’t owe me anything, not even friendship so I tried to get over how I felt...but it was hard.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie…” April frowned but then kept quiet, wanting Donnie to get it all out. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know that...people get to a certain age and they want to meet someone that they can settle down with...get married and have kids and I know that I should have seen that coming but you never said anything and I knew that you weren’t interested in that with the other guys that you dated but then Harry came along and you just went, I didn’t even get a chance to...to get used to seeing you less and less, it just happened...honestly April I feel like I’m repeating myself again and again, I don’t know what else you want me to say!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want to know how you felt and how you feel now!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I told you I was upset and angry! It’s like I was just there for entertainment until someone better comes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>better</span>
  </em>
  <span> than you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, he was just </span>
  <em>
    <span>human</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>normal,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Donnie spat out, before he tensed up, regretting his words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you were jealous of him?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m jealous of </span>
  <em>
    <span>any </span>
  </em>
  <span>human...going places I could never go, spending time in the city during the day without worrying about people seeing me and capturing me and…” Donnie stopped speaking, an old memory coming to him that he didn’t want to remember. April’s hand on his shoulder helped pull him away from the memory. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to be one hundred percent honest with all your feelings going forward Donnie, I want you to be able to tell me things even though you know they might hurt me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I will do that from now on,” Donnie nodded and slowly untensened. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” April sighed and a few minutes of silence stretched between them. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, can I have the soup now?” Donnie asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sorry, here…” April laughed as she passed the thermos to him. “There’s a spoon in the lid.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Donnie gave her a smile before opening the thermos and picking up the slightly too small spoon. He scooped up a spoonful and blew on it before putting the spoon in his mouth. “This is some good soup,” he said after swallowing the mouthful and eagerly began eating the rest, finally something he was able to eat with no problem and hadn’t made him feel sick.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you like it,” April giggled, “I’m happy to make you soup whenever you want.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will definitely take you up on that offer,” Donnie said between mouthfuls. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So...me and Leo had a good moment earlier, he actually looked happy to see me and when I hugged him he hugged me back.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s a good start.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a great start, he said it was nice to have me around more.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I knew that they would come around...you just need to act like you used to,” Donnie said as he finished off his soup.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I honestly thought Leo would be the hardest to get to come back around but I think he’s going to be the easiest, I guess it helps that I get a lot of insider info from Karai... can I ask you something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are Raph and Mona still together?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Raph and Mona? Oh yeah...they’re still going strong,” Donnie replied, a flush covering his face. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s good...I didn’t want to ask Raph and cause any awkwardness if they’d broken up.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh they’re doing really good, he’ll be more than happy to talk to you about Mona...maybe that could be how you get through to him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s as good a plan as any,” April shrugged, “they’ve been together a long time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...and Mona left her home planet to come and stay here with Raph.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That was a big sacrifice,” April said and Donnie nodded.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re very much in love,” Donnie shrugged, “...if I tell you something you have to promise you won’t tell Raph or Mona that I’ve told you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” April grinned as she moved to the edge of the chair, eager to hear some gossip, “what is it?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re trying to have a baby.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April’s jaw dropped open, never in a million years could she have imagined those words coming out of Donnie’s mouth. She didn’t even think that it was possible for the turtles to have children, but that was just an assumption she’d never actually talked to them about it...why would she? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh...wow...so, is that even possible?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I honestly don’t know, I’ve done as many tests as I can and they’re both highly fertile and we have similar reproductive systems and we’ve lived through so many impossible things so...I would say that it’s very much possible and they’re not complaining about trying…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I bet they’re not,” April laughed, “wow, I guess I really missed a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, you’re catching up on everything you missed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hope you and Mikey don’t have any surprises for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I promise there is nothing major going on in my life...as for Mikey, I have no idea, he’s very good at keeping secrets.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well I guess if he does have something going on, it will be a surprise for both of us!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Donnie laughed. “You know, I think that soup has honestly helped my cold, the next time I’m ill I will definitely be asking you for some of this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I will be more than happy to make it for you and bring it here,” April smiled. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, um, wanna watch something on Netflix? My laptop’s on my desk.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sounds great,” April said and got his laptop for him, sitting back on the chair as he started up his computer. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can sit up here if you want...as long as you aren’t worried about catching a cold,” Donnie suggested and April responded by crawling onto the bed and getting comfortable next to him as he brought up Netflix and the two decided on what they were going to watch. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April had to stop herself from snuggling into Donnie’s side, she didn’t want to make him too uncomfortable but she was enjoying being with him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie’s heart did its usual fluttering for a few seconds when April’s warm body sat down next to him, but he kept his eyes on his laptop so the feeling soon died down and he was comfortable watching a movie with her. They remained that way for several hours until Leo came to check on them and April decided that it was time for her to leave. Both Leo and Donnie thanked her before she left the lair and when she got home, she had a big smile on her face, happy with how things were going.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. January - Midnight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She’d wanted to go to bed early tonight, get a full eight hours of sleep before her alarm would wake her up for her first day back at work, but she couldn’t get to sleep. There had been too much happening in the past few days that kept playing through her mind, keeping her from sleep as well as the problems she might face back at work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She picked up her cell again, clicking in and out of several apps before she brought up her texts, hoping that Donnie was still up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Are you awake? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She sent the text and waited to see if he would reply.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah, is everything okay?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just another bout of insomnia! Got any cure suggestions?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You’re speaking to the expert on insomnia, unfortunately not the expert on its cure, sorry! </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Something the great Donatello doesn’t know? I can barely believe it!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Alas, it is a flaw </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We all must have them! </span>
  </em>
  <span>She sent the text and waited several minutes, but there wasn’t a response from Donnie, but just as she was about to send another text, one came through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Are you worried about work?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, I’m not going to have a job by the end of the week </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>They’d be mad to let you go, you’re more important than you think! </span>
  </em>
  <span>April smiled at the response, Donnie always knew how to make her smile. Suddenly texting wasn’t enough and she wanted to hear Donnie’s voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Can I call you?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On the other side of their conversation, Donnie was sat hunched over his desk, frowning at his phone when the last message came through. As much as things were improving between them, Donnie still felt some resentment about April almost disappearing out of their life without a word. He wasn’t feeling in the mood to put on his fake happy persona over the phone but April was sad, unable to sleep and didn’t want to upset April but telling her she couldn’t. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You don’t need to ask April</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie waited and less than a minute later April’s picture appeared on his phone as her incoming call came through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey April.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey D...sorry to call you, I know we could have kept texting but...I wanted to hear your voice,” April cringed at how her words sounded but what Donnie said next made her laugh.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Want me to sing you a lullaby to help you sleep?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe another time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure? I’ve been told my singing voice is very good.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It is, but I don’t think it will help me get to sleep.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You just want to talk?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Want me to talk you through my latest experiment or a complex equation? That might bore you to sleep.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t find all that stuff as boring as you might think.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You are the only one,” he chuckled, “Leo tries to be interested but you can see his eyes glaze over after a while.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, at least he does try, I can’t imagine Raph or Mikey doing that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re only interested if I make something that will cause destruction,” Donnie laughed and so did she.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The two continued talking for what felt like ages but in reality was a little over twenty minutes, it was at that mark that April actually felt tired.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m starting to feel tired now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Good,” Donnie chuckled. “Get some rest for tomorrow, um, today, and let me know how things go.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will do, thanks D.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her first day back at work went as badly as she could have imagined. The atmosphere in the office was very tense and everyone had been called in for a meeting not even a half hour into the day to confirm the cutbacks and that they would be letting several employees go by the end of the week and that everyone would have a one to one meeting with the office manager and a decision would be made by Friday morning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April’s one to one meeting did not go very well. April had gone into the meeting with a positive outlook and trying to come across as very upbeat and happy and give good examples of what a valued employee she was, but the office manager barely looked at her, never smiled and it ruined April’s upbeat mood and she gave up trying, it seemed as though the other woman had already made up her mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Friday rolled around and as suspected, April was one of the ones being let go and due to her being at the company for such a short period of time she didn’t receive any severance pay and didn’t even have to be given any notice...that served her right for signing her contract without properly reading it, she was just so excited and relieved to have been offered a job. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They laid me off,” April sighed into the phone as soon as she got home. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry April,” Donnie sighed back, “they’re idiots.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know, January and February are the best months to look for a new job, I’m sure there’s plenty of places that are hiring right now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve had a quick look, there are plenty of retail jobs going, not exactly what I’d like to do but I just need a steady income….even then a lot of these jobs can’t guarantee so many hours each week, one week I could work 30 hours and the next I could only get 5.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I guess in some ways I’m lucky,” Donnie chuckled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’d have nothing to worry about, if you were human you would have several degrees by now and used them to get an amazing job that paid the big bucks,” April laughed and sobered quickly, realising that that might have sounded horrible to Donnie, rubbing in his face what he could have if he were human and not a mutant stuck in the sewers for the rest of his life, “but you’re better than that, instead of working for some big company you make people’s lives better, you save lives.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Great save...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Donnie…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April, I know you didn’t mean anything by it and it’s not like it wasn’t true...so, I’d love to hear more about human Donatello.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh he’s got this huge apartment, I think it’s a penthouse, ‘cause he’s got </span>
  <em>
    <span>all </span>
  </em>
  <span>this money to be able to afford it and he shops at all the top retailers...he always had to look his best.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“For my job or for the ladies?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Both, of course,” April laughed even though she was feeling far from happy when Donnie mentioned women, he shouldn’t be interested in other women she thought bitterly and then shook that thought out of her head, it was only hypothetical women. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, if you’re not doing anything tomorrow I could use your help with something in my apartment,” April said suddenly, she had enjoyed speaking to him on the phone recently but wanted to see his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, of course, I’ll be round as soon as it’s dark and maybe I could help with the job search whilst I’m around?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That would be great Donnie.” It was great but now April had to think of another reason that she wanted Donnie’s help in her apartment when really she just wanted to spend some time with him...</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. January - Declutter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span> is what you needed help with?” Donnie asked as he stood in the doorway of April’s bedroom. “You want me to help you clean your room?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I want you to help me get rid of old crap that I don’t need...declutter this </span>
  <em>
    <span>mess</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” April said as she showed him the inside of her closets...amongst the clothes, most of which were not on their hangers, were various boxes, some pillows, a stool? And many other things. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Wow</span>
  </em>
  <span>….April, this is…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A huge mess?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yup…” Donnie grinned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, after the break up I was feeling like crap and things got very messy and my idea of cleaning was just to shove everything out of sight and now it’s like this...you haven’t seen under my bed yet,” April laughed and Donnie glance quickly towards April’s double bed, thinking about how much room was under there and how that was probably filled up with clothes and other items that they would be sorting through. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think I want too…” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s just start here,” April said, throwing all her clothes onto the floor so that they could organise them before they went back into the closet. The other items that filled her wardrobe were also on the floor, to be sorted through as well. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With Donnie’s help she was able to sort everything into three piles, one pile was things to be donated, the second was things to be thrown away and the final pile was everything that was to be organised and put back where they should be. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would never be able to do this by myself, I’m no good at getting rid of old stuff, I just keep everything...I haven’t worn that top in four years!” April exclaimed, pointing to a multicoloured top with spots, she’d only worn it a few times before deciding that she didn’t really like it but couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m so glad I don’t wear clothes,” Donnie laughed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’a a nightmare, but I have to wear something, I’d get in a lot of trouble if I stopped wearing them,” she laughed and enjoyed watching Donnie’s face change colour. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...I can’t imagine that would go down well with a lot of people.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not at all...now, let’s put all of this stuff back in the closets and we can get to work on under my bed.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When everything was tidy and organised in her closet, her clothes colour coordinated per Donnie’s suggestion and boxes neatly stacked, they moved to under her bed, Donnie taking one side and April taking the other, dragging everything out so they could sort through it. Much to April’s surprise, there was not a great deal of clothing under her bed, there were a few pairs of pajamas, which she threw in her laundry hamper. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Luckily there wasn’t any underwear until her bed, that was something she always made sure to put in her laundry hamper, so she didn’t have to worry about Donnie finding any. She threw a few things into her nightstand, some that should have been in there anyway and then what was left they sorted into the same piles from before, leaving her with plenty to donate, plenty to throw in the trash and some things to organise into some boxes, which would require a trip to target or walmart as she didn’t have any more free.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was one box that was already under her bed, which Donnie had found and opened to look at its contents. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What’s this box?” Donnie asked as he started shifting through what was inside. There were various photos, tickets, rolls of films and even her tessan along with other items, it almost looked like a box of her past life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April leaned over the bed to see what it was that Donnie was looking at and then smiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I couldn’t have photos of you guys in my room when Harry was here, so I would put it all in a box...I guess after a while I just kept everything in there because he was around a lot.” April took the box from Donnie and began to pull the items out and put them in their old spots. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She used to have a collage of pictures on her bedroom wall, old photos from when she first met the turtles and then many more from the years that followed, but only a few from last year. She wondered if Karai had any decent photos from New Years that she could add to it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will all this stuff go back into the box when you get your next boyfriend?” Donnie asked, not wanting to sound like he was accusing her of someone, he genuinely wanted to know. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t plan on getting back on the dating scene for a while so it’s nothing I have to think about any time soon,2 April shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s good to know,” Donnie hummed as he looked over the photos in April’s collage, “wow some of these are </span>
  <em>
    <span>old.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They’re some of my favourites, the first photo I took with you guys and the first one we got with Casey...the first selfie we took together,” April smiled as she looked over some of the oldest photos she had, “I can’t believe we’ve known each other for nearly </span>
  <em>
    <span>ten</span>
  </em>
  <span> years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I bet this wasn’t where you thought you would be back then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well no, but could you imagine how boring my life might have been if I never met you guys...sure it’s had its downsides but…” </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can’t imagine not having you guys in my life. Well, you can now O’Neil can’t you? Because that’s how the past year has basically been and nothing apparently changed!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s also had its upsides?” Donnie finished for her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she sighed and sat down on her bed, “at least all the down moments are becoming less and less over the years.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The city’s got better but it’ll never be perfect,” Donnie sighed as he sat down next to her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I heard there’s a new gang that’s popped up in Brooklyn.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Raph and Casey are handling that, as far as they can tell it’s just a bunch of teenagers robbing people, trying to make themselves seem like somebodies but they scare easily and aren’t very good at getting people to recruit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, whatever happened to the good bad guys?” She teased even though she never wanted any of them to come back, she had enough physical, mental and emotional scars and didn’t need any more. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We beat them all,” Donnie grinned. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April smiled at him and the fluttery feeling in her stomach came back as the two stared at each other. She looked away, if she hadn’t she might have done something that she would have regretted. She wanted to kiss Donnie in that moment, but didn’t know how he would take that, it hadn’t even been a month since her embarrassing post break up drinking. She was only just making things right between them after the time she’d spent distancing herself and after he had opened up about how he had truly felt during that time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go get the vacuum cleaner,” April said, standing up from the bed. “I think I have some of that carpet cleaner which’ll make my carpet several shades lighter,” she laughed and left the room, giving herself some time to pull things together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now was not the time for thinking about kissing Donnie or making any kind of move. She needed more time to build up the trust in their relationship before she even thought about taking things further, if she still wanted to then. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote and re-wrote the ending to this so many times. I hate when my brain can't decide what to do!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. January - Snow Globe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And this ends January...on to February...</p><p>(please ignore any errors, I haven't had the time to read through this again...)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Thanks to Donnie’s help, April’s bedroom was free of the clutter that had previously filled up her closet and under her bed, everything was organised and tidy, which gave her a false sense of having her life together. Her actual life was awful, she had no job, she was going to start having money problems soon, she was trying to patch up rusty relationships as well as struggling with her feelings towards Donnie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie had left the apartment not long after she’d put her carpet cleaner down and vacuumed the room. She then spent an hour on her couch, waiting for Karai to come home so she would have someone to talk to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Karai entered the apartment, she glanced at April before heading into the kitchen, coming back out with two glasses and a bottle of wine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have a feeling we’ll be needing this,” Karai smirked, placing the glasses on the coffee table and glancing at the ugly summer themed snow globe that was also sat there. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the hell is that?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a gift that Harry got me, last summer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Why?” Karai asked as she opened the bottle and poured out the wine.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He thought I’d like it...he put a picture of the two of us in it and honestly...the first thing I thought about when he gave it to me was...um, years ago Donnie gave me this music box with a picture of him inside. It freaked me out and it freaked me out when Harry gave me this...but I reacted a lot better this time.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, yeah, Donnie told me about that music box,” Karai laughed, taking a seat on the couch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He told you about that!?” April frowned and Karai couldn’t help but cackle. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah...You do know I do more than just fuck Leo when I’m down in the lair right? I talk to all the guys about a bunch of different things. I was their only link to you for a long time, me and Donnie have talked a lot this past year,” Karai shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So you know how I reacted to getting the box?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just hope by reacting better it means you didn’t stomp all over his feelings.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, Harry was my boyfriend...boyfriends get their girlfriends gifts but this was just so…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ugly? Weird?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s the first and only gift he ever got me and I knew that I needed to react to it well so that I didn’t hurt his feelings...and I also kinda thought that he wouldn’t get me anything else if I did react badly but…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t he get you anything for your birthday?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We went out for dinner...I think I actually paid for my own meal though,” April tapped her chin as she thought back to that night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And you really liked this guy? He sounds cheap.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Relationships aren’t about giving and getting gifts...although, for a special occasion it would have been nice to get a little something...or at least not have to pay for my own birthday dinner,” April said, taking a large swig of wine. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did he even offer to pay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not that I remember...what did Leo do for your birthday?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hm, I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone…” Karai smirked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, now I’m just worried about Leo.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He was the one who suggested everything we did, because he knew how much I wanted to do some of the things that he suggested...but he would be very embarrassed if anyone knew what we did so I promised I wouldn’t tell.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But you want to tell,” April smiled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh god, so much, but I don’t break the promises I make to Leo,” Karai shrugged with one shoulder and then waited for April to talk again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So...when me and Donnie were cleaning under my bed I saw this...awful thing and panicked that Donnie would see it and asked about it so I hid it. After Harry gave it to me, I threw it under my bed and forgot about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...I’d want to forget about it too.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s not </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>bad.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Whatever...so...did you and Donnie get up to anything else when he was here? I thought he might still be here when I got home.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was nice to spend time together…” April said, taking a pause before she spoke again. “I wanted to kiss him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So why didn’t you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because I know what Donnie is like, he would overthink things. If I kissed him now he would think that I was using him for a rebound...I sort of think that myself, I’ve never actually rebounded before, after my last relationships ended it was like...okay,” April shrugged.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s honestly so hard for me to wrap my head around...but I don’t have a great deal of past relationships...but whenever one ended, just being with someone who was attracted to me enough to want me for sex made me feel better and sex in general just makes me feel good so,” Karai shrugged, “I guess you’re just not as interested in sex as I am.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I like sex! I guess...I don’t think that any of the guys I’ve been with have been very good, honestly the only time I had an orgasm was if I did it myself...well that’s a lie, but it was a rare thing to have one during sex,” April said and blushed, she was still not all that comfortable talking about sex. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s a good thing you’ve got that vibrator then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How do you know about that!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You don’t hide it very well...I like the colour choice by the way.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I hate you,” April groaned as her face grew even more red. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, come on, you are clearly sexually attracted to him, but is it just that? A bit of curiosity because he’s a mutant turtle?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s more than just sexual...I know it is but I just can’t get it into words, I don’t want to stand in front of him and not be able to get my words out and then giving up and making things awkward. I...I’ve always loved him but I always thought it was a platonic love between best friends...but maybe it was always more than that? I know it was for Donnie but for me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well you are hugely oblivious to stuff like flirting and when a guy is asking you out so it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t even know your own emotions.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m an empath! This should be more than easy for me!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you need to actively use your powers more, they might not be at full strength anymore or something,” Karai suggested and refilled their glasses. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Maybe...can I ask you something?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did you and Leo get together, like how did you start dating?” She watched as Karai blushed...Karai didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>blush.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We’d been having sex for a long time before we got together...just sex, no romance or anything like that but over time things started to change, it spooked me at first, I don’t like...feeling...love and stuff,” Karai said, looking upwards while she thought of the words to say. “I decided just to run at those feelings head on for a change, I knew that he loved me so it was just a matter of me saying it back and meaning it...and wanting a relationship with him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Karai didn’t say anything else. April wanted to ask her more, maybe it would give her some ideas of how to approach Donnie but she and Donnie were completely different to Leo and Karai, so what worked for them might not work for her. That and also Karai didn’t look comfortable enough to talk about it in more detail. She knew that emotional subjects were difficult for Karai and she wasn’t going to push her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I bet Leo was over the moon when you told him you loved him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I fried his brain,” she laughed. “And then he went down on me...do you know the guys can hold their breath for a very long time? And Leo’s tongue is really wide…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, that’s enough,” April said and Karai rolled her eyes. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You need to relax a bit...and gain a bit of knowledge if you ever want to ride the turtle train.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I think I have other things to worry about with Donnie than that...at the moment.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well when you’re ready...I’ll be here,” she winked. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. February - Diary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>April takes some time to write down her thoughts and feelings, getting explicit about her past relationships.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April collapsed onto her bed, staring up at her ceiling. She was unbelievably bored. At the moment her days mostly consisted of applying for jobs and either not hearing back at all or receiving a message that she wasn’t successful at this time. Karai had tried to get her out of the apartment to get her to do something, but she was too worried about spending money that she didn’t really do much other than watch Karai buy things and drag her into stores that she didn’t want to go in. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She started looking around her room for something to do and her eyes settled on a black book on her nightstand. It was a blank notebook that she’d bought in early December, planning to use it as a journal. She thought this year was going to be big for her and she wanted to document it, her new job and her new boyfriend...and now she had nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But after everything that had happened since new years...she had plenty to write about. She found a pen and opened the book, tapping the page a few times before she thought about how to start. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I feel kind of stupid writing a diary at almost twenty-five years old...but how else am I supposed to get all my feelings out and work out what they mean? I know Karai will always listen to me, but she isn’t great with the romantic advice, she’s more than happy to talk about sex and as curious as I am and how much I’ve been thinking about that myself...I don’t want that to be the only thing I think about when I think of being with Donnie. Even though I do think about that </span>
  </em>
  <span>a lot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>My life, back when I was still in my teens, was non-stop and when things started to calm down...that was the first time that I even really thought about relationships, other than trying to avoid Donnie and Casey’s advances. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A couple of months after turning twenty, I started dating Andrew. I can’t even remember how we met...college maybe? I lost my virginity to him after we’d dated for a few months. He was cute...not the brightest or the most interesting but we had fun together and got along well. I should have known that he’d want sex early on in the relationship, but that wasn’t on the forefront of my mind. I didn’t even realise it when he started pressuring me for sex. There was a time when we were at his place, we’d been dating for two...maybe three months at that point, we were making out and he put his hands under my shirt and for once I let him touch my boobs. But when he tried to stick his hand down my pants, I didn’t want that and told him to stop.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I freaked out a bit and he got annoyed at first but then got over it. We then talked about when I would be ready and I honestly didn’t know. I wanted to have sex with someone who I felt close with but I just forced myself to go through with it and...it was awful! He’d had sex with other girls before me, including another girl who was also a virgin, so I thought he would be good and take care of me, making sure that I enjoyed my first time. I didn’t have high expectations, I wasn’t expecting an orgasm and I knew that it might hurt a little but it was...truly awful. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There was very little foreplay and we didn’t have any lube, so it hurt a lot more than I was expecting it to. He focused on himself, he started off slow but after a while things were rough and he was clearly racing towards his own orgasm, ignoring me underneath him. I tried to rub my clit to try and feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>something</span>
  <em>
    <span>, but I didn’t have enough time before he finished. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>One of the first things he said to me, after having sex for the first time, was, “When are you gonna go on birth control?” Um...I hadn’t really thought about it all that much? I didn’t want to either and I told him that. He wasn’t happy about that but I wasn’t ready and didn’t want to take a pill or have something sat in my womb or my arm just so he wouldn’t have to wear a condom. He tried to say how much better sex would be without the condom, but I made my stance on birth control clear. If sometime in the future I wanted to go on it, I would, but I wasn’t going on it and have to deal with all the possible side effects just to have crappy sex.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I wish I’d stuck to masturbation. I didn’t even masturbate until I was eighteen. For a while I was almost addicted, it was the first thing I did in the morning and the last thing I did at night and any spare time or when I was having a shower or a bath, it was my main way to release stress. I thought sex could be the same way but it killed off some of my sex drive and I didn’t have a lot of free time to give myself an orgasm, Andrew always acted hurt when I touched myself, well, I wouldn’t have to if he actually made me come! </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I think it was around that time that I bought my first vibrator, so that when I did masturbate, it would take less time. I even tried to see how quick I could get myself off, my record is ten minutes and that was thanks to my favourite method, where I just press it down on my clit and go to town. Andrew didn’t even know what a clit was so it was no surprise he could never get me to come. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>After Andrew and I made the leap to sexual relationship, things really died down and after a while the only time that we spent together was having awful sex, so I ended things. My first ‘real’ relationship and it only lasted a handful of months. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I took a long break after that, until Karai dragged me to a club one night, about a year after the break up to try and get me to meet someone, either someone I could later date or just someone to hook up with, she didn’t really care. That was how I met Mateo, a bartender at the club who’d come to New York from Mexico to go to College. He gave me his number but it took me about three months to actually give him a call...and I got his voicemail...then he called me whilst I was out on patrol with the guys. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It took us another month before we actually spoke on the phone and could arrange for a date...a date that we could only fit in...in three weeks time. He was very busy between his job and his studies and I was busy with the same as well as running around the city at night and spending a lot of time in the sewers with the guys. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Over six months, we made it to the third date and we slept together. I wanted to this time and I was definitely sexually attracted to him. Again, I didn’t come, but the sex was good and I liked him more than I’d liked Andrew. We managed to date for a year and a half, it felt like a long distance relationship with how often we saw each other, we only got to see each other a couple of times a month and after those eighteen months, Mateo broke up with me, because he wanted a girlfriend that he could see more and who he could spend more time with. I was fine with the break up, Mateo and I had always felt more like a friends with benefits relationship.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Harry was just the opposite of Andrew and around more than Mateo, never pressuring me to do anything and always making sure that I was ‘taken care of’ and he was definitely a lot better at sex than Andrew and Mateo, he was the first one that didn’t cringe or sigh when I asked them to touch me and he was the only guy who had gone down on me. The sex was good but being was him was just as good. But looking back now, and thanks to some impact from Karai, as nice and friendly as he was, he was very boring and he never really came up with his own ideas, he always went along with what I wanted to do. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I also realised recently that he wasn’t as great as I remembered him. It’s like I changed my own memories of the past, like me thinking that he’d taken me out for dinner on my birthday when actually I’d chosen the restaurant and I had paid for my own half of the meal, he hadn’t even offered to pay. He didn’t get me a card or a present or anything...I don’t even think he wished me a happy birthday. If I had spent my birthday with the guys I would have been spoiled. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If I wanted to go shopping, Harry would want to as well, but only ever brought one or two things and it was always something like underwear or socks. Whenever we went out to watch a movie or if we watched one at home, he’d always just go along with whatever I suggested and make no suggestions himself.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I even had to initiate sex the first time, which was something I wasn’t used to doing. There really were quite a few times...almost all the time actually that I had to initiate sex, did he just have sex with me because I wanted to? Was he just wanting to make me happy? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I was always the one to text him first or call him, make plans. Did he even want a relationship? He definitely didn’t think twice about ending things when he got a job across the country. He accepted the offer and broke up with me the same day, we didn’t even get the chance to talk about things, he wasn’t interested in making things long distance. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I really must have been projecting my feelings for Donnie on this guy who did kinda look like he could be the human version of Donatello...but he was nowhere near as attractive as Don was. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There’s no point in denying how I feel about him anymore but I can’t say anything to him yet. I need to let some time pass, I need him to know that he isn’t a rebound and that I value his friendship the most out of everything. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve loved him for as longer than I can remember but I pushed it aside, thinking it was platonic love for my best friend. I could have been with him years ago, before I even met Andrew, if I had just accepted my feelings instead of changing them into something else. It was obvious that Donnie’s feelings for me have never changed since the crush he developed on the first night that he saw me…</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Donnie would be an amazing boyfriend and I was sure he would be an amazing lover...maybe there was someone that already knew that. Even though Donnie was a mutant, we’ve met plenty of other mutants and people who wouldn’t be put off by his looks, for all I knew Donnie had previous girlfriends, previous lovers...it made me feel jealous but that was in the past, and there was still the possibility that he might not have even been with anyone at all.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If I had given into my feelings back when we became our closest, we could have been together for five years...all that time, wasted on stupid guys and being alone.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Oh god, if someone reads this...they probably wouldn’t be able to look me in the eye. I don’t really like to talk about personal life.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I did really want to have a bit more insider information from Karai so that I wouldn’t go into things with Donnie completely clueless but then again I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, I need to get Donnie’s trust back and talk to him and before we could take a step towards romantic, it would be a much longer time before we could take a step towards anything sexual, but I could wait.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I have my purple vibrator to keep me company in the meantime... </span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The next chapter will be purely about Donnie...and it gets a bit filthy (in his mind)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. February - Dream</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A little insight into Donnie's personal life over the last few years.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was meant to post this days ago, but this week had kicked me in the ass! Hope you enjoy...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Donnie had fallen asleep writing his journal, completing another day of whining into the book. Tonight he had been writing about April and how he had enjoyed being with her the other night, even if it was just to help her clean her room. They had, what he thought, was a moment, but April couldn’t get away from him quick enough and he wondered if she could sense how he was feeling. He thought he was doing a good enough job covering his emotions but maybe she could feel something and it had made her uncomfortable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April was probably still getting over her break up, she said that she wasn’t interested in dating and all he could think about when they were sitting next to each other was how beautiful she looked and how much he wanted to kiss her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His journaling had caused his dream to be about April, kissing her on her bed, playing out how things might have gone if he had just done what he wanted to. He could still smell her and imagined that her lips were warm, soft and very inviting. He imagined taking her into his arms and bringing her closer to him, until they were pressed up against each other, her breasts squashed against his plastron. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He dreamt that they did more than kissing, April telling him that she wanted him, pulling away only to take her top off, followed by her bra, leaving her top half bare for Donnie to see. Of course he had never actually seen April’s breasts but he could guess at the size, especially since he had seen her in a bikini. He knew that she had some sparse freckles in the space between her breasts and in his mind, her breasts had the same tiny brown and orange spots covering them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d seen plenty of porn to know that human women's nipples and areolas came in all shapes and colours, something he found very fascinating and every time he saw April naked in his dreams, her nipples were different. He always thought the same way about her vulva. Honestly, when Donnie had discovered how different women could look, he had been fascinated and had spent hours researching as much as he could about the female body as well as on female pleasure. His natural curiosity as well as being a horny teeanger had led to him spending an unhealthy amount of time on the internet doing his “research”. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh yes, Donnie had thought about April in great detail. He knew that it was all a bit over the top but this was the woman that he had been in love with since he was fifteen years old. He’d started having sex dreams less than a year after he had met April and they nearly always featured her since then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d had his chances, with other women, to have relationships, both romantic and sexual but he had ruined them all. Some of the people he talked to and it didn’t go much further than that, although he was sure he had self sabotaged some of those without even realising. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a young woman who had been mutated into an iguana by accident, Donnie and his brothers had been patrolling when they had found her walking up and down an alley, her arms wrapped around herself as she cried. He was the only one that was able to get her to calm down and talk. Her name was Mary and she was from New York, she had been walking home from her evening job as a waitress when some teenagers had thrown a glass canister at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had broken on her and the ooze had mutated her into an iguana, even though they could not find an iguana in the alley that they found Mary in. After she had mutated, she remained in the alley, terrified to go anywhere and let anyone see her, she had already been attacked once that night and didn’t want anyone else hurting her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had taken her to the mutanimals and she had clung to Mona Lisa, feeling most comfortable with another woman, although she had been very surprised that Mona was an alien and not a human turned into a mutant like she had originally thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie and Mary spent some time together as he helped her adjust to her mutant life. He found out that she had been studying physics and chemistry at NYU and had been in her final year. She was devastated that she put all that time into her studies and would now never be able to get the job that she wanted or to ever see her family and friends again, they wouldn’t accept her for how she was now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With similar interests and the time they spent together, it wasn’t a surprise to anyone that they became closer, although apparently Donnie didn’t pick up on some of the signs, so when she kissed him, the was very shocked. But he liked her, he thought she was intelligent and attractive, fun to be around...why should he not give this a chance?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They kept things between them although his brothers did ask him about how much time he spent at the mutanimals place but he told them it was none of his business and Mikey couldn’t get the mutanimals to give him the insider information on what was going on between the two geeks. Even Mona wouldn’t tell Raph anything, not wanting to ruin her friendship with the female mutant. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Things between Don and Mary started to heat up after a couple of months of dating and Donnie knew that Mona wanted more from him. He wanted it too but a part of his brain started to niggle at him, making it hard for him to ignore it at first but eventually he shut down all feelings of guilt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they started to take things further, Mary was even more nervous than Donnie was. Mary was still getting used to her mutant body and was very insecure about her looks, especially since someone had mentioned to her that Donnie had been attracted to a human girl and she was now lacking what she thought Donnie would like.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie, obviously, was not put off by mutant anatomy and didn’t find it weird or disgusting, if anything he was intrigued by her and she was more than happy to let Donnie explore her body and get to know it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time they had sex, was the first time his mind was with April and not with Mary, it was only for a brief moment, but it had made him feel very guilty, he should have been thinking about his girlfriend, but he always knew his heart was elsewhere. He could have had a good relationship with Mary, they were a very good match, but no and now she was gone. She’d left with a few other mutants going upstate, where there was a growing mutant population, out where there were fewer humans. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mona had been mad at him and that had caused Raph to be mad at him, but he didn’t care about them. He had tried to contact Mary, to tell her that he was sorry but she didn’t want to talk to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Overall, he and Mary had lasted a little over a year and it was a miracle that April never found out. She rarely went over to the mutanimals’ home and Donnie had a lot of time to spend with Mary during the day when April was at college or during the times that she was at work. Not that Donnie was actively trying to hide his girlfriend from April but for him, it would have been weird if they met each other or even became friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There had been a few other people here and there but Mary was one of the only one of his partners who had been serious. And now he was stuck with his dreams being the closest thing he had for a love and sex life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie woke up from his dreams of his past and of April and groaned at the pain in his neck. Falling asleep at his desk was not good, not only did his neck and shoulders ache, he’d also drooled on his journal, smudging some of the ink on the most recent entry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dammit…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything okay D?” Mikey’s voice asked from behind him, making him jump and spin around, closing the journal as he moved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything’s fine Mikey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thought maybe you wanted to talk to someone...” Mikey said and Donnie frowned at his brother, the last thing he wanted to do when he’d just woken up was have a conversation and he knew that Mikey was fishing for something as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really Mikey,” he sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not really a no,” Mikey said as he put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not really a yes either,” Donnie responded to which Mikey rolled his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it’s not a no...” Mikey said again and Donnie sighed loudly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it you think I want to talk about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not this again…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh come on D, things seem to be going really well for you guys and like, she even texts the rest of us loads more, and me and Ape are gonna hang out at her place tomorrow!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? She never mentioned that…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You jealous that I’m spending some alone time with her?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not at all,” Donnie rolled his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you guys do when you went around her apartment the other night?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I helped her sort out her room.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, that sounds </span>
  <em>
    <span>super </span>
  </em>
  <span>boring bro’.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know that’s what we were going to be doing Mikey...but it was still nice to spend time with her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll tell her you said that, it’ll make her so happy!” Mikey grinned, a teasing glint in her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up Mikey,” he sighed, gliding his chair across the room to get away from his brother, but he only followed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on D, talk to me about April...you always used to,” Mikey frowned and pouted. Even at twenty-four his brother still was as irritating as ever and always in his business. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s nothing to talk about at the moment.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At the moment? So there will be in the future?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go away Mikey.” Donnie huffed, trying to escape his brother again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...is there anything you want me to tell April tomorrow?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Donnie said, glaring at his brother who smiled back before finally leaving him alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now he was left alone he tried to get his mind back onto a project or an experiment, something that could keep him busy but his mind wanted to focus on nothing but April. It had been a number of days since he had last seen her, maybe he could phone her up and ask her to come to the lair...to help him out with something? An experiment…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe something to do with her powers? Karai had previously mentioned to him something about April not using them at all during the time that she was dating Harry. He was sure that he could come up with some kind of experiment to test her powers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took out his shell cell and took a deep breath before pressing the speed dial number he had assigned for April. She picked up a few seconds later but it sounded like she was talking to someone else and walking around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Donnie, sorry, just trying to get to my room...Karai is all in my personal space at the moment,” she chuckled. “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, I know that you’re hanging out with Mikey tomorrow but I was wondering if you were free the day after? I have an experiment that I could use your help with...if you wouldn’t mind?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds great!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great...um, any time good for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m on my way over,” April said, a wide smile on her face even though Donnie couldn’t see it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Awesome, I’ll see you then...bye April.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye Donnie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both were grinning after the call ended, happy to be spending time with their best friend again. It wasn’t long after he’d hung up when he received a call from Karai. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Planning a date with April?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want?” Donnie sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to talk about you and April.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, but was ignored as Karai continued to talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, the other night I came home and April was sitting on the couch, looking all upset and there was this goddamn ugly looking globe sat on the table, apparently Harry had got it for her as a gift.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...and why are you telling me this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apparently that was the only gift that Harry ever got her throughout their whole relationship.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow...really? Not even a present for her birthday?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, just that ugly snow globe...and that really upset her. She’s finally seeing how crap of a boyfriend Harry was, she thought he’d taken her out for dinner on her birthday but he didn’t and he made her pay for her own meal.” Donnie didn’t know what to say, he felt like he needed to apologise to April even though nothing was his fault. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should buy her something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should buy her something to cheer her up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you’re her best friend...and you want to be more than that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Karai...I don’t know how April will react if I were to send her something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’d love it Donnie, trust me.” Karai said and he didn’t get a chance to say anything else as she ended the call. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie didn’t have too good a track history of giving her presents, sure he gave her things at Christmas and her birthday but those were presents that people expected. Although, he and April had been getting along a lot better recently and maybe she would appreciate something to cheer her up after everything that she had gone through in the last few months. May as well give it a try...</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. February - Gifts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Now that April knew about Karai and Leonardo’s relationship as well as April now being single, Leo could come over to their apartment to spend time with his girlfriend, instead of them having to lock themselves in his room since his brothers would not leave them alone, mostly Mikey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was so excited to spend some time with Karai in her apartment, that he had decided to bring her a gift, which he’d handed to her when she’d let him into the apartment through the window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that Valentine’s day is next week right?” Karai said as she accepted the black box wrapped with a red bow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, I just wanted to get you something...to say thank you?” Leo said as he and Karai took a seat on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, for...bringing April back into our lives?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Leo...I told you before, you don’t need to get me things and now you’re making up reasons to get me something?” Karai said with a roll of her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was the first thing I could think of...I actually did get you this for Valentine’s day...but I want you to have it now,” Leo’s voice deepened ever so slightly and Karai knew from that just what was inside the box, even so it always surprised her when Leo got her something like this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She undid the bow and opened the box, grinning widely when she saw what was inside. A black and blue lacy lingerie set, a sheer bra and crotchless panties, along with an eye mask and a small silver bullet vibrator.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re too good to me,” Karai sighed as she held the bra up against her chest. “Do you want me to put this on now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, what about April…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April’s gone to the grocery store, we have plenty of time,” Karai said as she placed the bra and the box down on the floor and turned so she could face her boyfriend. She pulled his face towards her so they could kiss,  Leo’s mouth immediately opened and his tongue came out to play with Karai’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai pushed down on his chest with her own until Leo was laying down on the couch and she was straddling him. His hands went straight to her backside and one of Karai’s started working its way down his front. Neither of them heard the front door open. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not on the couch!” April cried as she walked into the apartment. “I sit there!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We weren’t going to have sex here...just some foreplay,” Karai teased as she sat up, still on top of Leo, preventing him from sitting up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing at all on the couch! Oh god, you’ve done it there before haven’t you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We haven’t had the chance to,” Karai rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leo’s face was burning as the two women talked, he didn’t want to be a part of the conversation and hoped that they would shut up soon and he and Karai could go into her bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good!” April cried and left the room, going to her bedroom and slamming the door. Leo sighed inwardly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Such a prude,” Karai muttered before looking back down at the turtle she had pinned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we go to your bedroom now?” Leo asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can wait here while I change...give me five minutes and then come in...and I hope you have some lube with because I’m not going to be using that vibrator on me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April had to sleep with her headphones on, her music on full volume, to drown out the noises that were coming from Karai’s bedroom. Even though their walls were reasonably thick, Karai and Leo were just too loud...and what the hell was that purring sound? She hoped that it was just a noise that turtles made and wasn’t some kind of sex toy. Now she was curious if it was a turtle noise...Karai would be more than happy to confirm whether it was or not. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Watching Leo stumble out of Karai’s bedroom in the morning with a goofy grin on his face both made April smile and want to punch him. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed when he realised that April was looking at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning Leo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, morning April,” he mumbled as he made his way over to the fridge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you like some tea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The way he blushes you’d think I’d just taken his virginity,” Karai said when she walked into the kitchen, heading straight over to Leo to kiss him on the side of the neck before kissing him on the lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really don’t need to see this guys,” April rolled her eyes as she was ignored and she went back to making tea for Leo and Karai and a cup of very strong coffee for herself.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Leo stuck around for the rest of the day, the three of them had watched some tv together and then Leo and Karai had spent most of their time in her bedroom, so April had left, spending some time walking around the city before returning home, shortly after sunset when Leo had gone back to the lair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April, something came for you,” Karai said when April walked into the apartment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t order anything,” April frowned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a gift,” Karai said and pointed towards the kitchen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“From who?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t you, go and find out,” Karai rolled her eyes and April sighed before walking into the kitchen and as soon as she did, she gasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sat on their small kitchen table was a large bouquet of yellow roses. She didn’t recognise the vase that they were sitting in and wondered if the vase had come with the flowers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a small envelope sitting in front of the roses and April picked it up and ripped it open to get at the small card that was inside. It was a white card with a small floral pattern that acted as a frame. In the middle of the card was a typed message. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Apparently Harry never got you any gifts, I hope these make you feel better! See you tomorrow. D. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>When and why the hell did Karai tell Donnie what she had said about Harry never getting her anything? Not that she was complaining all too much, the flowers were really beautiful, she couldn’t even remember the last time someone had gotten her flowers, especially not roses and never would she had even thought she might receive roses in her favourite colour. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took out her cell to drop Donnie a quick text, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Thank you for the flowers, they are beautiful and you didn’t need to get me them! I can’t wait to see you tomorrow :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She read and reread the final line, hoping that it didn’t sound too much...but after ten minutes she told herself off for thinking too much into a few words and sent the text. Less than two minutes later her phone buzzed with Donnie’s responding text. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m glad you liked them, I can’t wait to see you either :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, who got you the flowers?” Karai asked, the tone of her voice and the look on her face made it clear that she already knew the answer to her question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re from Donnie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did he get you flowers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apparently you told him that Harry never got me any gifts and wanted to make me feel better, so you also told him that I was upset about not getting gifts.” April said, although her words were accusatory, she wasn’t angry. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See, Donnie’s not even your boyfriend yet and he’s already buying you roses just because you feel down,” Karai smirked. “I wonder what gifts Donnie might give you when you actually start dating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re getting ahead of yourself Karai.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Am I? Did I or did I not hear you planning a date with Donnie on the phone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He wants my help with an experiment.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s just an excuse,” Karai said, rolling her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He usually asks for my help and I always help him out when he asks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Karai smiled. “Enjoy your date,” she said, leaving April alone in the kitchen with her roses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She picked up the vase and took her flowers, along with the card to her room, placing them on her nightstand. Things were definitely going in the right direction.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. February - Chocolates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April decided to bake a chocolate cake for Mikey. She’d also gone out and brought some other chocolates and snacks for him, knowing that it would go down with the food orientated turtle. She also ordered a couple of large pizzas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Woah April...what’s with the feast?” Mikey asked as he climbed in through the open window and saw the food that was on her coffee table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you might be hungry,” she shrugged and sat down on the couch, patting the space next to her as an invitation for him to sit, which he did and immediately dug into one of the pizzas.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fair to assume I always am,” he mumbled around the food in his mouth. “Karai not here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s gone out with Shinigami.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, really?” Mikey asked, wide eyed, pizza stopping in its tracks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s so shocking about that? They’re good friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um...well, there was some stuff that happened a few years ago and they didn’t speak for...well, I didn’t think they spoke anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” April asked. She couldn’t believe there was yet another thing that she didn’t know about and had been kept from her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on Mikey, please tell me...I swear I don’t know half the things that I should, I only recently found out that Leo and Karai were dating and then I found out that they have been hooking up for years…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay I’ll tell you! But you can’t let Karai know that I’ve told you, she really hates this being brought up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jeez, what did she do that was so bad?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, um, when Leo and Karai started banging, they were in an open relationship and Karai was sleeping with other guys. I think she thought Leo wouldn’t sleep with anyone else because...well,” Mikey shrugged and then gestured at himself. “But, apparently Leo and Shinigami started to hang out and…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They had sex?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you and Shini…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nah, nothing serious and no hard feelings, she actually asked me if I was okay with her going after Leo and I was fine with it, I never even thought she had a chance with Leo because he was so into Karai...but I was hella wrong...plus I kinda thought she might ask Karai before she went after Leo, considering she asked me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just...I can’t see those two together…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well it was only sex,” Mikey shrugged. “Apparently Leo has a type, but they only had sex like twice before he called things off and it wasn’t long after that when Karai found out and that was some scary shit.” Mikey stopped talking so that he could eat some chocolates and handed a few to April, trying to get her to eat since she hadn’t touched anything at all yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks...so what happened? Did they have a fight? How did she find out about Leo and Shinigami?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apparently Shini made a comment about how Leo was in bed and Karai thought she was messing around or trying to tease her or something, so she text Leo who told her it was true. The next thing we hear is that they’re both in the hospital.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The hospital? What the hell did they do, stab each other?”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pretty much...they had to lie to the hospital and say they were attacked by a gang...it was written down as a racial crime and passed along to the police, but Karai got that shut down not too long after...it was all so mad Ape, honestly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what happened after that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Karai didn’t talk to Shinigami and didn’t want to see her at all...she was also mad at Leo and ignored him for a few weeks before they talked things through...it took a little while for things for them to go back to normal and it wasn’t too long after that when they actually started dating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But things between Karai and Shini...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very bad, Shini tried to get Karai to talk to her and even Leo wanted them to work things out...for Leo he couldn’t understand why Karai forgave him and not her...maybe they’re finally fixing things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s good they’re getting along again but...yeah, maybe that wasn’t the best thing for Leo and Shinigami to have done.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...I tried to listen in when Leo and Karai finally talked but they made sure nobody could hear what they were saying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you ever ask Leo about it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He looked really sad about the whole thing and really guilty, I didn’t wanna make him feel worse so I just told him that I was here for him if he ever wanted to talk about things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April nodded, understanding that she might be hitting a sore spot and didn’t want to ruin things between her and Mikey, when they seemed to be getting along as though nothing else had happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So um, can I ask you something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shoot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does Donnie talk about me a lot?” She asked and Mikey grinned at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not as much as when he was like </span>
  <em>
    <span>obsessed </span>
  </em>
  <span>with you, but yeah he still does, but it’s like a sad kinda talk like talking about how much he misses you being around.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I apologised to him for not being around as often...I owe you that apology too Mikey...I didn’t even realise that I was doing what I was doing and Karai helped me realise that…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April honestly, it’s okay...you had your own stuff going on and we’re older now...it’s bound to happen and y’know just because we don’t see each other or talk to each other doesn’t mean that we’re not still friends...we all have our own lives and whatever,” Mikey said, before taking a deep breath. “I mean, I feel that way but you know what Donnie is like…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know he took things harder than the rest of you…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know why that is April,” Mikey said, ignoring the food in his hands now. “D’s totally still in love with you Ape...dude’s been holding out hope all this time, every time you broke up with a boyfriend he perked up like he had a chance but…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m surprised he even talked to me after New Years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was embarrassed but he got over that pretty quickly, he can never stay mad at you for too long,” Mikey smiled and then helped himself to a slice of cake, again offering some to April, but her stomach was in knots and the chocolates that she had eaten were already making her feel sick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, um, has Donnie...has he ever had a girlfriend?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dunno, I mean, I know there’s been people who’ve been interested in </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> but he’s never spoken about anyone or anything so I can’t say for sure.” Mikey shrugged, stuffing the slice of cake into his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“People who were interested in him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, like so many,” Mikey said and then paused at the look that was on April’s face, a look that was both shocked and upset and Mikey tried not to smile. “You wanna hear about them all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I, um...okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so,” Mikey said, turning so that he was giving April his full attention, ignoring the food. “Way back when we were like nineteen, we were patrolling and you weren’t there, I think you might have been studying for a test or something, anyway, we came across this girl getting mugged and we stopped it. The girl literally threw herself at D, thanking him for saving her and Donnie was so embarrassed and when she pulled back and he got a good look at her...he had this look on his face, kinda like the one he had when he saw you for the first time,” Mikey said with a grin, half of his words were fake, to see if he could get a reaction out of April. In reality, yeah, sure, Donnie had blushed at the woman, but that was only really out of shock of her hugging him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, really?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...and then they started talking and we kinda left them alone....I don’t think much else happened because he only spoke about her once more, I think they exchanged numbers and talked a bit and then she totally ghosted him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh...he never told me about that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April, he didn’t really want to talk about it at all, all we knew is they stopped talking...he didn’t want to talk about it anymore than that and we didn’t wanna piss him off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, um, who else was there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, I don’t really know a lot of their names, he didn’t really talk to us about them and I’m pretty sure he was trying to keep a bunch of stuff secret but I know there was this mutant girl called Mary that he got very close with.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mary?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she was nice but then one day she just upped and left and we didn’t know why, I mean, we could guess because of how Donnie was but he never really wanted to talk to us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I remember that...I asked him if something had happened and he told me it was nothing but he was upset for a long time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, not surprised he didn’t tell you, he didn’t want you knowing anything about his love life.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?” April frowned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because even when he was with all those other people, he was always thinking of you, he’s never not gonna be in love with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good,” she said and Mikey wasn’t sure what to say, he just looked at her, frowning, still moving food from the table and into his mouth. “I think it’s time Mikey.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You and Donnie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...I think we’re doing good on the friendship side of things, making up for all the time that I have spent distancing myself from him and I think that soon enough I will be able to take things further without him freaking out or thinking that I’m lying to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s awesome April! Finally!” Mikey cheered and April laughed, almost falling backwards when he hugged her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I take it you’ll approve of us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Always have and always will Ape,” Mikey said as he pulled back from the hug, his arms still holding hers. “I’ve been waiting for this for </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I’ve made you wait,” April chuckled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just as long as you’re sure that’s what you want...then don’t wait too much longer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know it’s what I want and I have already wasted too much time, I just need to decide how to...announce my feelings to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like a party?” Mikey asked, excited. “You could put it on a cake!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What I want to say won’t fit on a cake,” she shook her head, amused. “I’ll figure it out but maybe don’t tell Donnie about any of this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I won’t, I’m not gonna risk you guys not getting together, you need to be!” Mikey said, dramatically and April rolled her eyes but couldn’t hold back her smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was able to get Mikey settled down, promising him that she would keep him in the loop when she told Donnie how she felt and what his reaction was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d gone through the rest of the food, April having a great deal less than Mikey, honestly she never knew how he could eat so much and never feel sick. They’d watched a few movies on Netflix, easy films to watch that didn’t really require their full attention as they continued to talk, Mikey telling her what the mutanimals had been getting up to and about the rising levels of mutants that had seemed to come out of nowhere. Mutagen appearing even though the Kraang had been gone for years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April told him all about what had happened with her job and her struggles with finding a new one, something that Mikey was glad he didn’t have to deal with. As great as human life sounded to him, there was a lot that he didn’t like such as jobs and how much everything cost, it all sounded very stressful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a little after midnight when Mikey and April decided to call it a night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you so much for tonight Mikey, it was great to spend time with you again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You too Ape and hey, we need to work out another movie night, it’s been too long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, before you leave, maybe you could have a look at some of my DVDs and pick some out we could watch? And then I will make sure we plan a night when we can watch them...I’m free most of the time now anyway, unless I get this job I’m interviewing for but I doubt it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t sell yourself short April, I’m sure you’ll get the job,” Mikey said as April led him to the bookcase she and Karai used to store their collection of movies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’ll see,” she shrugged. They spent the next ten minutes going through various films, slowly windy down the selection to three movies they thought would go down well with the rest of the gang. Mikey took the DVDs with him and waved goodbye as he left her apartment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tonight had been a good night, she knew that Mikey and her would have no problem getting back to how they used to be, Mikey was not one to hold any bad feelings towards anyone, only when something very serious had happened. She had also gained some more insight into how Donnie felt about as well as some of his dating history, which Donnie had never talked to her about and why he had never talked about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was almost ready to take that step from best friends to romantic relationship, she just needed to figure out what she was going to say and how she was going to say it. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. February - Poem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April rolled out of bed a little after ten and after a quick shower and getting dressed, she sent Donnie a text to say that she would be on her way in a few minutes. She’d got the thumbs up and smiley face text back just as she was leaving her apartment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way down to the sewers and broke into a jog once she was underground, eager to see her best friend. Jumping over the turnstiles, she alerted the turtles in close range that she was here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey guys,” April waved at Leo and Mikey sitting in the pit who smiled and said hello back before she disappeared into the lab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April! You made it here quick,” Donnie smiled, having turned around when he heard someone enter the lab.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trying to see if I can break my record,” she joked as she walked over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was going to make us something to drink before you got here, coffee or hot chocolate?” He asked, standing up from his chair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A hot chocolate sounds amazing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem, I will be back in a few,” he smiled at her before walking out to go to the kitchen. April thought about going after him, but he didn’t need her around just to make some drinks, she didn’t want to hover over him every second that she was around him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked around the organised mess of Donnie’s sanctuary, trying to see if she could guess what he had called her here for, but there was nothing new in the lab, aside from a few extra books on his desk. She got a bit closer to see what they were, one was a thick black book and the other looked very beaten and used, it’s cover was a dark pink with traces of gold that looked like they used to be letters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Out of curiosity, she picked up the old book, trying to be as careful with it as she could, not wanting to damage it. It looked very worn, like it had been read several times. When she opened it she realised that it was a book of love poems.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned to the first page that held a poem and read it; </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Must Confess</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I must confess</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I am insatiable for your love.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There are urges in my body, </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>That are full of you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Cravings that possess every letter of your name,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>and such desires seem to have no end. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a small star next to it and April wondered if that meant that it was one of Donnie’s favourites. She flicked through some more pages to find more that Donnie had marked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I have seen your darkest nights</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>and brightest days </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>and I want you to know</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>that i will be here </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>forever </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>loving you in dusk  </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Unknown</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>if he loves you,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>you will know it</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>in whispers and kisses, </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>in kind words and caresses,</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>and in all the little things</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>he does to make you smile </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Mark Anthony </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was section in the middle of the book which was filled with erotic poetry and she tried not to read too many, the ones that she had read had made her face heat up. Not a lot of these were marked for a few were, including...</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I wrote poems</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>inside of her </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>with my fingers.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Our story began </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>with her scream. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>And ended </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>with her soul </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>on my lips.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Unknown</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were also poems specifically about redheads and almost every poem in that section was marked with a star.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>The Spark of Adoration </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Her red hair burns like the rays of the sun,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I see her and I am lit,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>for she is beautiful,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>beyond compare, </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>the girl with</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>blue eyes </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>and fire for hair.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Christy Ann Martine </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>You</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Your freckled skin</span>
</p><p>
  <span>brags of your </span>
</p><p>
  <span>unique character</span>
</p><p>
  <span>and I realize </span>
</p><p>
  <span>as I kiss each freckle </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I will never know </span>
</p><p>
  <span>someone else</span>
</p><p>
  <span>quite like</span>
</p><p>
  <span>you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Chrissey Pinney </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fact that every poem in this section were all starred felt very personal, like he was definitely thinking about her when he read these and apparently he liked every single one that mentioned a red headed woman. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She continued to flick through the book and about three quarters of the way through a note fell out. She bent down to pick it up and immediately recognised the handwriting as Donnie’s. It was a poem that he had written and it was definitely about her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve pinned for so long </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Will it ever end </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>For you, my love</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I see heaven in your blue eyes, </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A stone, a flower, your passion </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A virtue, </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>your smile, a pulse through the pretty world </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>connected together, I share with you </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>into the future, my love </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Everything okay April?” Donnie asked. She was so engrossed in the book, she hadn’t heard or sensed Donnie walk back into the lab with two mugs in his hands. He could clearly see the book that was in her hand but she was able to slide the note under the back of the book.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah um, I saw this lying around and couldn’t help but have a look at some of them...I didn’t know you like poetry,” she said and Donnie looked very embarrassed. He passed her the hot chocolate he’d made her before he replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I found that book in a dumpster a few years ago, it was a bit water damaged but I managed to dry it out and fix up the spine...I was never really into poetry before I found that book...I always thought it was boring but…” he shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They are some nice poems,” April said, purposely flicking to a page where every poem was starred, in the section about redheads and out of the corner of her eye she could see Donnie’s look of panic. “Do you write any of your own?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, no, I doubt I would be any good at that…'' Donnie mumbled and April tried not to smile, knowing that he was lying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you should give it a go, you never know you might be a poet and not even know it,” April turned back to him, flashing him a grin with her rhyme. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was awful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you’ll be better than me,” April laughed as she put the book down, crumpling the small note into her palm and shoving her hand into her pocket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I doubt it...but I guess I could always give it a try if I have some spare time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to read whatever you come up with.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It might bore you to death but if that’s the way you want to go,” he joked as he sat back down at his desk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, um, what is the experiment you wanted my help with?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, um, it’s sort of an experiment on you…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Karai said you haven’t really used your powers recently and I was wondering…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Geez, how much do you and Karai talk to each other?” April said before she could stop herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, quite often...why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It just seems like you know everything that I tell Karai,” April said, but with a smile so Donnie didn’t think she was angry at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise you that she doesn’t tell me everything...she even tells me that she can’t tell me everything because it’s too private or something that you wouldn’t be happy to have passed along,” he said sincerely and April laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can talk to who you want about whatever Donnie, I don’t mind, but you can just get all the information straight from the source if you want it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will remember that next time! So, how about we start small...um, how am I feeling right now?” Donnie asked and April closed her eyes and reached out towards Donnie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You feel happy...and curious,” she said and opened her eyes to see Donnie smiling at her.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good...do you need to close your eyes when you do that or does it just make it easier?” She could feel his curiosity grow stronger and smiled, answering his question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It makes it easier and I know that what I’m getting from someone is real and doesn’t let me get influenced by how a person looks or pretending to look,” she explained and felt something unfamiliar come from Donnie, an emotion that took her a while to put her finger on it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you feeling guilty?” As soon as she asked the question the emotion was gone and even though April tried to reach out again, she got nothing but a blank wall. “Donnie...what is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, what is what?” Donnie asked and April sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just after I felt guilt coming from you and said it out loud there was suddenly a white light and then what feels like a wall...are you purposely blocking out your feelings from me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just...there’s some things that I want to keep to myself.” Donnie answered, knowing that it wouldn’t make April feel great, but it was the honest answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like guilt? What do you have to feel guilty for?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, I guess...hiding my feelings from you? I didn’t mean to do it just now but I guess that was just my reaction.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you need to hide your feelings from me? Do you do this often?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April…” Donnie sighed, not wanting to continue this conversation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can tell me why Donnie, I won’t get angry, I just want you to be honest with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess...I’ve just been used to keeping how I felt a secret and I was able to hide how I felt from you...I didn’t want you to think any of the sadness or anger I was feeling was towards you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But sometimes it was?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sometimes, but we’ve been through all that April and I will try not to shield my feelings from you.” Donnie smiled and she could feel the wall break down and could feel the anxiety he was feeling as well as the vulnerability. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you Donnie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, so...let’s move onto something else...can you still lift things with your mind?” He gestured to his pencil sitting on his desk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With no problem at all, she lifted the pencil off Donnie’s desk and placed it back down when he told her to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did that hurt at all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t feel anything,” April smiled. There was a time when she used to suffer from migraines if she tried to move things with her mind. That was mostly during her teens, the only time then that she felt no pain from using her powers is when she had used the crystal...but she never wanted to think of that time again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm, sorry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You drifted off for a bit there and then you started frowning...are you sure you aren’t in any pain?” He was so concerned about her and it took a lot of self control not to kiss his frown away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, don’t worry, I was just thinking about something...what else do you want me to do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could try and get you to lift something heavier and maybe move it across the room?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” April said and looked around the room for something that might be a challenge for her to lift. She settled on a large cabinet in the corner of the room, knowing it was probably filled to the brim with various items, making it even heavier. It lifted off the ground a couple of inches and when April closed her eyes she was able to lift it as high as it could possibly go and pull it towards them, setting it back down on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that was harder than it should have been,” April laughed, her eyes still closed as she pinched her forehead. “I thought this would be more like riding a bike.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just need to get used to using them more frequently and you should be back to full strength in no time and hopefully it will ease the headaches you’re getting.” Donnie said and April rolled her eyes, but regretted it as it caused a small amount of pain in her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just don’t really have much of a need to use them nowadays, I don’t go out on patrols with you guys when you do and my day to day life certainly doesn’t involve moving things with my mind or reading how people are feeling.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you should have gone into a career in psychology.” Donnie teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My dad would have loved that, instead I have a degree that can’t even get me a job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still having no luck?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have an interview for Target tomorrow, it’s only a part time job but it’s a job.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure something will come around soon April.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So did I...is there anything else you want me to do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not right now, we could try these tests and maybe a few more in about a week or so? Give you some time to practice using your powers and see if they improve with some practice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds good...so, um, do you need any help with anything else? I don’t have much to do for the rest of the day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t actually have much else on the go at the moment...but we could always watch a movie or there’s this documentary that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while that no one else is interested in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to watch it with you Donnie.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. February - Love Letter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>April is taking the leap!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Quite a short chapter and the next one will probably will be as well...but stuff is happening!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The poems in the book that Donnie owned would not leave her head, the flowery words, the erotic imagery...they had led to her having some very explicit dreams, including one were she was laying naked on a field, with Donnie between her legs, making poetry with his fingers, much like one of poems he had marked. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d woken up with some incredibly damp panties and cleaned herself up in the shower, after pleasuring herself first, the memories of her dream brought her to an incredible climax.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She dressed herself before taking a seat at her desk and taking out her journal, some lined paper and a pen. She had forgotten to write in her journal the past few days and with all that had happened, Donnie sending her roses, the time they spent together in his lab and the poems that she found, there was a lot to write about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It also gave her an idea. An idea that she was comfortable with now as she and Donnie were back to what felt like old times and she wanted to move their relationship forward. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Donnie was into poems, maybe she could try and write him a poem or a love letter? Something that she could use to explain her feelings and give to Donnie so that she didn’t have to stand in front of him and fall over her words and stuttering and anything else that could possibly go wrong. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After completing her journal entries and bringing it up to speed, she went to her sheets of lined paper and began writing out everything that came to her mind, she could take things out, add things and clean it all up later. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Donnie, </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I want to get out everything that I feel and I think that this is the best way to do it. This is one hundred percent honest and real and we can go through this letter together if you want but...this gives me a chance to say what I want without being on the spot or you interrupting me, because I know that you would! I also know I might chicken out or say the wrong thing, anyway here we go...</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You’re my best friend, but you’re more than that and you have been for a long time, I’m just an idiot who isn’t very good with her feelings. Karai has helped me a lot with all that, she’s a bit too...explicit at times but she has the most insider information that she is willing to share and apparently you two talk about everything all the time so I’m sure you’ve been getting just as much insider info as I have! </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sure Karai has told you about Harry and all the stuff that I’ve figured out, such as him being a worse boyfriend than I thought. This might sound creepy, I’m not sure how you would take it but I think I only liked him because I could imagine he was you. But he was far from the amazing person that you are. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You’ve always been there for me, through thick and thin, through all the good times and all the bad times. I owe you so much.  </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love you Donnie. I love you so much. And I will tell you that to your face a million times, even if you don’t believe me. I know that I have stomped on your feelings and I’ve teased you and messed you around, ignored you...I know that I’ve grown up since those times but feelings still linger but I promise you that I will never treat you like that again, you don’t deserve it and you never did.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>There’s so much more that I can say, but I guess I should leave some things to tell you to your face. If you still feel the same way towards me that you used to or even if you just want to talk about the letter...just give me a call or come round mine. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I really hope to hear from you soon </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>April </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She folded the letter up and put it in an envelope. She knew that Karai was going to see Leo that night so asked her to take the envelope down to Donnie and leave it with him. She also asked her not to answer any questions he had about the letter. By the time Karai left their apartment, it had been hours since she had written the letter, hours of calm before the anxiety set in when Karai left.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All she had to do was wait for Donnie to read the letter and then see what his response was. She tried not to watch the clock as she waited for Donnie to call her or turn up but after a few hours, she crawled into her bed, not bothering to get dressed into her nightwear, and tried to get some sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She was almost there when there was knocking on her bedroom window.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. February - Rain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>April shot up in her bed and her heart leaped into her throat when she saw the outline of Donnie’s body sitting at her window. She also realised that it was raining and ran over to the window and opened it, pulling Donnie inside before he had a chance to say anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god Donnie, what are you doing out in the rain, it’s freezing,” she babbled as she closed the window and ran to the bathroom to get Donnie a towel, handing it to him so that he could dry himself off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry...I, um, Karai gave me the letter and I was busy so I didn’t read it as soon as she gave it to me but if I’d known what it was about…” Donnie began to explain and April had to remind herself to breathe, keep calm, listen to what it was that he had to say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t want to put pressure on you or have you think that I was using you because you were still upset about your break up…” April couldn’t help but smile at that, she knew him so well. “When you told me that you weren’t interested in dating, I would have never thought that was because you were interested in </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April took the now damp towel from Donnie and threw it towards her laundry basket, missing it, but not giving a damn as her whole focus was on the turtle standing in front of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was the complete opposite of what I meant by that, I wanted to let you know I wasn’t interested in dating another random human...all of my previous experiences haven’t been great and I’ve realised why and how I really feel about you...I wanted my next relationship to be…” April took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and make sure she got out the right words. “I want my next relationship to be with you...I have wasted enough time on guys I have no feelings for just because I was ignoring how I felt about you but I’m done with that now and if you still feel the same way...if you still want me…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April stopped speaking and watched a wide smile spread across the other’s face before he said...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you April,” he moved towards her, placing a finger under her chin and ducked down, pressing their lips together in a kiss. April wasn’t sure if he meant for it to just be a quick kiss, but she wasn’t going to let that be how their first </span>
  <em>
    <span>actual </span>
  </em>
  <span>kiss went. She cupped his jaw in her hands and licked across his lips, trying to get him to open them so that she could deepen the kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opened his mouth and immediately she sought out his tongue, playing with it with her own. A shiver ran down her spine when Donnie moaned because of what she was doing. Their mouths parted for breath before she dove in again, eager to continue kissing him. It felt so much different to the handful of other guys that she’d kissed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their kissing was heating up her body and she could feel herself moving backwards, not to get away from him, she made sure to pull him along with her, back towards her bed. She’d only really wanted a more comfortable place for her and Donnie to make out but as soon as she sat down on the bed, she found herself on her back with Donnie on top of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands were tangled in her hair as he continued to kiss her and she pulled at his shoulders, bringing him closer to her. Don’s hands moved down from her hair to cup her breasts, thumbing the undersides before moving up to play with her nipples through her thin shirt. Damn, she’d never been this worked up, she could feel her panties getting wetter by the second and if she didn’t stop this now she knew that they would not be able to stop and they would be going all the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Part of her didn’t want to stop, why would she want to stop when it felt this good? She’d never felt this good during sex let alone just making out but she knew that she didn’t want to rush things with Donnie, especially since she didn’t really know Donnie’s history. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie...Donnie, we should stop.” April said and bit her lip to keep herself from moaning when she could feel a bump in Donnie’s lower plastron rub against her leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine I just...is this...this is going too fast isn’t it?” April asked, still trying to catch her breath as she looked up into Donnie’s dark eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know...it feels like this is a long time coming,” Donnie chuckled and April smiled back at him, stroking the side of his face. “But, yes, we should slow things down,” he said and rolled to her side, wrapping an arm around her. They were silent for a little while, both trying to catch their breath and calm themselves down from their heavy make out session.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know...it was very romantic of you...to write me a letter like that on Valentine’s Day,” he chuckled. April raised herself up onto her elbow so that she could look down at Donnie’s face, her own showing confusion. “You didn’t know that was today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Without a job I don’t really pay attention to dates…” April admitted, a small blush on her cheeks. “Maybe we could do our own Valentine's day? I could get Karai to spend the night with Leo and we could have dinner here, I can make whatever you feel like?” April suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds amazing but Leo wants us to patrol tomorrow night as there’s been some high gang activity in the Bronx that I know he won’t let me get away from...but maybe the following night? If that’s okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course it’s okay Don.” April said and gave him a quick kiss, not wanting to start up a make out session again, worried that she would not be able to hold back this time. “What do you feel like eating?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Never thought I’d say this but anything other than pizza, I feel like that’s all I’ve eaten the past few weeks...I guess that's what happens when everyone else is busy and I forget to cook...there’s always pizza in the fridge.” Donnie chuckled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well it sounds like you are overdue for a home cooked meal...is pasta too close to pizza?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pasta sounds amazing...with your homemade tomato sauce?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup and loads of cheese...maybe I’ll even cook up some garlic bread.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now you’re spoiling me.” Donnie laughed as he pulled April back against him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we could have a cake for dessert as well.” April hummed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or I could pick something up on my way over here, save you from making our dessert from scratch as well as our main well.” Donnie suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would be great, maybe pick up some wine as well? Me and Karai have gone through all the wine we have in the apartment.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you weren’t drinking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, that didn’t last long,” she said and they both laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem, I’ll  pick up a bottle, red?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hm, yes, that will go well with the pasta.” April sighed and felt herself start to drift into sleep, but before she allowed herself to do so, she asked Donnie, “Will you stay here for the rest of the night?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not going anywhere April,” he promised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie started stroking April’s arm and she placed a hand on his plastron, the soothing actions of both helped them to sleep, the best night's sleep either of the two had got for a very long time.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. February - Dinner Date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As much as she didn’t want to and hated to do it, she’d had to postpone her and Donnie’s first date. She’d finally received a reply from Target regarding her recent interview and she’d got the job! Finally she would have some income, even if it was only for twenty hours a week on minimum wage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d wanted her to start the night that she and Donnie were meant to be having their date, but he’d been more than happy for her to postpone to have her first shift at work. Her first shift had been mostly training and had been seven hours long. She’d finished her shift feeling confident about her next shift the following evening. She’d been given her hours for the rest of the week and was able to reschedule her date with Donnie for Friday evening. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d started on dinner early, wanting to make sure that everything went well, she didn’t often make her own garlic bread and would need time to fix things if they went wrong. The food was almost ready when Donnie knocked at her window and she rushed towards it, </span>
  <em>
    <span>way to not seem eager O’Neil, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she scolded herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she got to the window she could see that Donnie had a backpack slung over one shoulder and was holding a bouquet of various red, yellow and orange flowers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh Donnie, you didn’t have to get me more flowers,” she said as she let the turtle in and accepted the bright coloured bouquet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I couldn’t help myself.” Donnie said, rubbing the back of his neck as he followed April into the kitchen where she filled up a measuring jug with water so the flowers had somewhere to sit until she could find a vase later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It smells amazing in here April.” Donnie commented as he took a seat at her small dining table, placing his backpack by the side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Karai thought so as well, she almost didn’t leave so I got Leo to text her and it didn’t take much more than that for her to go.” April explained as she placed a plate full of pasta in front of him and the place set for her before retrieving the garlic bread and her two wine glasses. Whilst April was doing that, Donnie removed the cake and wine from his bag, placing the cake to the side and the bottle in the middle of the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh, this is a nice wine.” April said as she picked up the bottle. “Me and Karai always stick to the cheap stuff, it doesn’t take much to get me drunk and Karai’s fine with just being tipsy if she can watch me make a fool of myself...I hope this didn’t cost too much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about that April, honestly.” Donnie told her as she opened the bottle and poured some of the wine into their glasses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And red velvet, my favourite.” April said, looking at the delicious cake which was also in a box that looked like it came from an expensive bakery. How did Donnie even get these on the way over to her apartment?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April? It’s okay, I had plenty of money to buy these,” he said, knowing she was still worrying about his spending.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I’ve been very money conscious recently.” April grimaced as she took a small sip of wine, trying to calm her bubbling nerves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I get it April,” he smiled at her and also took a small swig of the wine before digging into the pasta, humming his delight after the first touch of food to his tongue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your cooking always is April,” he said when he’d finished his mouthful and spooned another load into his mouth as April also started to dig into her meal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Between bites of their food, Donnie and April exchanged some conversation, they talked about her powers and how she was practising at home to try and strengthen them and was happy to let him know that she was now headache free once again. He’d given her some gossip on his brothers, she had constant updates on how Leo and Karai were doing from Karai herself so she didn’t need Don’s insider info on that. She’d learnt that Raph and Mona were still trying hard on the baby front but unfortunately still nothing to report. There was some interesting news about Mikey, apparently he might be seeing one of the newer members of the mutanimals. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s nice that he’s seeing someone...I was beginning to think he might be asexual, well maybe he still is, I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Asexual?” April repeated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you know, having no sexual needs or desires...Mikey likes to hear gossip but he always gets a bit twitchy when people start talking about sex and he doesn’t talk about it in general.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he just doesn’t like to talk about it? Maybe he’s just very…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Private? It’s Mikey we’re talking about.” Donnie laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now that they were touching on the subject of sex and the warm feeling that was sitting in the bottom of her stomach from the alcohol, she decided to ask some questions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I...can I ask you something super personal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you...have you dated anyone before?” April asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yeah...yeah I have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” April said, slightly too loud and they both cringed. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out like that I just didn’t, um…” She already knew that information from Mikey but it still shocked her, part of her always thought Donnie would wait for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t expect me to say yes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kinda?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean, it’s a fair assumption to make, not a lot of people would look at me and think of anything else other than monster.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I’m not going down a pity hole I promise, but, um, yeah, I’ve dated people and stuff.” Donnie shrugged and shifted on his seat a bit before speaking again. “I’ve had sex before if that’s what you’re digging for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I...I wasn’t!” April said and blushed, glaring at the smirking turtle in front of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re both adults April, we can talk about these things without it being awkward or weird.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, okay...we’ll you know all the guys I’ve been with….”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Andrew, Mateo and Harry.” Donnie said and April rolled her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes and they were all awful, so…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I thought you and Harry were getting along really well until I read what you put in your letter and from some of the stuff that Karai told me...I’m sorry he wasn’t the guy that you thought he was and remembered him being.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay...I’m just glad he ended up breaking up with me otherwise I don’t know how long I would have been with him...I could have wasted even more years of my life.” April said and finished off her wine glass, that was the last of the wine for her, she was already feeling tipsy and didn’t want to make another drunk mistake and ruin something that she knew was going to be really good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I know about all the guys in your life and now you want to hear who I’ve been with?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah? If you want to, you don’t have to tell me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should be completely honest with each other shouldn’t we?” Donnie asked and she nodded. “So, um, I didn’t really have my first serious relationship until Mary...she was a mutant iguana that my brothers and I found in an alley one evening when we were on patrol, she’d been attacked with mutagen and we helped her and gave her a home with the mutanimals. We got very close and ended up dating for just over a year. I haven’t had many other serious relationships, there were a couple of other women and um, one guy, after that but there hasn’t been anyone in a very long time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A guy?” April asked, unable to hide her shock at </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, just out of curiosity,” Donnie shrugged, a cute shy look on his face. “It wasn’t anything serious for either of us but just something we wanted to try...not really for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you would possibly still be a virgin but you seem even more experienced than me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is...is that a bad thing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No! Of course not, god I wish I hadn’t drunk before we started talking...I can’t think, um, right...I guess I did kinda think that you would still be a virgin...not that I was wanting you to be I just didn’t know anyone that you might have…” April closed her eyes and tried to stop herself from rambling again, she kept saying things that she didn’t want to say but luckily Donnie was taking everything that she said in stride and laughed at her stumbling over her words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay April.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh, this is why I wrote that letter, I’m no good at saying what I want to without giving it some thought first...when I don’t I just try and say too much at once and it just comes out...awful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sound like how I used to be...oh how the tables have turned.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Don’t mock me!” April said, trying not to giggle like an idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, it’s hard not to...you’re so red right now.” April cupped her face when he said that, feeling the burn of her cheeks against her cooler palms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is exactly why I shouldn’t drink...at least I haven’t tried to give you a lapdance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I was really looking forward to that,” he teased back and April threw a piece of pasta at him, which he easily avoided. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe another night,” she said, sticking out her tongue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should clean all of this up.” Donnie said, looking at the table where the dishes from their main, dessert and garlic bread were stacked up, along with their empty bottle and glasses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh, that sounds like a lot of work to do...I wish I had a dishwasher.” April groaned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, together we could get this done in no time!” Donnie said, standing up and taking the stack of dishes from the table and walking over to the sink. April followed him, taking the bottle and the glasses. She placed the bottle by the trash can to take out to the recycling and placed the glasses next to the sink as Donnie began to fill it with soap and water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d added a bit too much soap and he’d splashed some of the soap towards April, at first it was an accident, but when she’d splashed back at him, he’d purposely thrown some more towards her. Through the splashing war, they’d managed to wash and dry the dishes and put them away, their bodies only slightly damp from the soap and water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should stay here tonight...you’re too tipsy to make it back to the lair.” April knew that was mostly a lie, even tipsy Donnie would be able to fight off several people and make it home with no problem, but she didn’t want him to leave and having him next to her would mean she could get another night of blissful sleep and she knew that Donnie could always do with some more sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll let Leo know I’ll be staying.” Donnie said and squinted at his cell as he made sure to type a clear message to his brother. While Donnie texted Leo, April went into her room and quickly changed into a fresh pair of pyjamas and jumped into bed, waiting for the tall turtle to join her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie stumbled ever so slightly when he entered her bedroom and slowly removed his gear. She knew that he was just trying not to fall over and embarrass himself but it also looked like a strip show and April was very happy to sit back and watch it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enjoying yourself O’Neil?” Donnie asked when he realised that she was staring at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very much,” she said, tilting her head and making it clear she was looking at every inch of him and liking it. Even though Donnie didn’t wear much ‘clothing’ it was still very different seeing him in his gear and mask compared to not wearing them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When his lanky frame was bare, he fell into the bed and his hands came straight down onto her boobs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie!” April giggled and Donnie pulled back with a grimace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry...honestly I was aiming for your shoulder...man, I feel even more tipsy than I did ten minutes ago.” Donnie </span>
  <em>
    <span>giggled. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay.” April said and placed Donnie’s hand back on her boob. “Your hand feels nice there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He froze up when she’d put her hand back, sure he had felt her up before but it felt wrong now, when they were both slightly drunk, but he didn’t have to do anything and she wasn’t really asking him to do anything, she’d just said that his hand felt nice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April had closed her eyes and he could feel her body relax under his hand. Donnie smiled as April started to snore gently and moved his hands away from her chest and wrapped his arms around her, getting comfortable against his girlfriend as he lowered his heavy eyelids and went to sleep.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. February - Love Language</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry if there are any mistakes, I've given this a quick read through but I am very tired! Anyway, it's the end of February here and onto March we go...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Is everything okay?” Leo asked when Karai had been staring at her phone for the past ten minutes with a deep frown on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t really said much to him since she’d come into his room half an hour ago. He’d been lounging in bed, reading one of his favourite space hero comics, which he’d put down so he could focus on his girlfriend but she immediately got out her phone and had said nothing to him at all. He knew she was going to be here for their movie night and expected her to come earlier than she needed to, but thought that might be to do something more fun than just looking at her phone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m texting Shini.” Karai replied, not taking her eyes off her screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay...I didn’t know you guys were back on speaking terms...that’s nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes? She’s your friend.” Leo said and watched as Karai clenched and unclenched her jaw, obviously trying not to say what she wanted to. It made him sigh, he hated when she got like this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong Karai?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought that I was over everything that happened and I could go out and spend some time with her like I used to but as soon as I saw her in person...I just got so angry I wanted to punch her” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I still don’t understand why you can be so angry at her but completely forgive me? We both did the same, um, thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We had an open relationship, you were free to sleep with whoever the hell you wanted...you didn’t have as many options as Shini did, she could have slept with </span>
  <em>
    <span>anyone </span>
  </em>
  <span>but she decided to sleep with the guy I liked? Without even asking me first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What would you have said if she’d asked?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would have told her to go fuck herself with a katana.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well…” Leo said and smiled at her with that “I told you so” smile that made Karai want to slap him, but she held herself back. “So, um, are you going to be here for movie night or are you going out with Shinigami...we could always invite her if you wanted?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want that.” Karai said, looking at Leo for the first time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” he didn’t know what to say, but luckily Karai continued speaking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What time are April and Casey coming over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well we said seven but Casey might appear sooner than that or maybe even later, it depends on what he’s doing or what he feels like.” Leo rolled his eyes, he thought Casey would mature with age or at least become more punctual, he was very wrong to be so hopeful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And do we know what we’re watching?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, we only know that April is choosing the movies, at least I think she is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll probably stick around for it, beats going out with her.” Karai said as she turned her attention back to her phone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew there was more going on between Karai and Shinigami but Leo did not want to get in the middle of that mess again, Karai would tell him when she was ready to, he just needed to be patient.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When April walked into the lair, the only one sitting in the pit was Karai.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are the guys?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Raph and Casey are in the kitchen, Donnie’s in his lab, Leo’s in the dojo and Mikey is...wherever Mikey is,” Karai answered before shouting, “April’s here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks.” April rolled her eyes as she sat down, leaving some space between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Ape,” Casey said, dropping into his designated arm chair, beers and snacks in his arms. The rest of the guys joined them shortly afterwards, although Donnie only stopped by to ask April if she wanted a drink before heading towards the kitchen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What film are we watching tonight April?” Casey asked, cracking open a beer before taking a few swigs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mikey’s chosen a few for tonight.” April answered and turned towards the turtle in orange. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re having a horror night tonight guys!” He exclaimed and dove to the DVD player. “I’ve got five films…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think we’ll be watching all of those tonight Mikey.” Leo said, ignoring his brother’s pout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well we watched three films last time so we have to watch at least three this time.” Mikey said and no one argued with him, there was little point in doing that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what are we watching then?” Raph asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got A Quiet Place, Brightburn and...Scream, because it’s a classic and April hasn’t seen it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You haven’t seen Scream? Even I’ve seen that.” Karai said and April sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t watch horror movies very often, I brought a bunch to try and get myself to watch them and catch up on what I’ve missed but I haven’t got around to watching them yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t mean that we will constantly be watching horror movies Mikey.” Donnie said as he joined the group, pressing himself close to his girlfriend, passing her a steaming mug of hot chocolate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, where’s my hot chocolate?” Mikey whined, ignoring what his brother had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Make it yourself.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So rude D.” Mikey said and stuck his tongue out at his brother before leaving to go to the kitchen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If he had a girlfriend then she could make his hot chocolate for him.” Raph mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie and April hadn’t explicitly told anyone that they’d finally gotten together, but Karai knew, Leo knew, it was obvious that Raph knew, Mikey possibly knew but it was only then that Casey realised that Don and April were together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait...Don, April...are you guys together?” Casey asked and they both nodded. “When did this happen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just over a week ago.” April said, a big smile on her face as she snuggled back into her turtle boyfriend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well it’s about time guys.” Casey grinned. It had been a long time since Casey had even tried anything with April, he found it fun to flirt but he was never interested in anything serious and April wasn’t interested in a one night stand or a friends with benefits situation, so nothing had ever happened between them. It wouldn’t have anyway, April knew that she didn’t have nor would she ever have feelings for Casey Jones. He was a good friend and she had enjoyed the attention when she was younger but that was it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Way overdue.” Raph added. Nothing else was said, nothing else needed to be said. Karai and Leo already knew plenty and would talk between each other about their thoughts on April and Donnie’s relationship and if Mikey had anything to say, it would all be positive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie had longed for this moment, to have April, as his girlfriend, showing their relationship in front of his family and friends. He pulled her in closer and smiled widely at everyone, who mostly rolled their eyes at him and then tried to avoid looking in their direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Mikey joined them again, they started up the film. Donnie had seen the movie several times before and it wasn’t really one of his favourites so it didn’t take him long to lose interest and be more interested in his girlfriend. Everything about her was distracting him from the movie, but the strong scent of her hair, different than what it had smelt like yesterday, was the main thing distracting him at the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your hair smells really nice, are you using a different shampoo?” Donnie whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am actually, I switched to avocado shampoo, it’s meant to be really good for your hair.” April whispered back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How is it meant to be good for it?” Donnie asked, genuinely interested. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s meant to moisturise hair, make it shinier and encourage it to grow and a bunch of other stuff...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re trying to grow your hair out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe...my hair has nearly always been the same length, it couldn’t help to shake things up a bit.” April shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you grew your hair out would you have it down more often?” Donnie asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you like it when I have my hair down?” April teased and Donnie began to play with her ponytail, twirling it around his finger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” April felt her face heat up and she had no idea why. She knew that Donnie liked everything about her, that had always been awkwardly obvious when they were younger, but it was so different when he told to her face and the casual way he had done so. He would have never been so confident when they were teeangers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>None of her previous boyfriends had complimented her that much, they’d say something about her breasts, her ass, how good her pussy felt. In the heat of the moment they were good things to hear but she would have liked to hear compliments on little things, like how her hair looked or smelled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you guys shut up?” Raph whispered harshly in their direction and both apologised before turning their focus back on the movie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie continued to play with her hair and occasionally massage the back of her neck whilst they got through the rest of the film.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When the movie ended, April didn’t remember a great deal of it, only that it reminded her of a parody film some of her friends had watched at a sleepover when she was younger, she knew that it was based on various horror films but had never actually got around to watching any of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie had offered to make her another hot chocolate and get her some snacks before they started the second movie which she had happily accepted. When Donnie came back from the kitchen not five minutes later, he noticed they were down by two people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Leo and Karai?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Called it an early night.” Raph said and rolled his eyes, Casey and Mikey were grinning widely and April looked a little flushed, so he could guess why they had turned in early. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie settled back into his spot next to April as Mikey started the second film, A Quiet Place, which she found to be more interesting and kept her on edge for the entire film. She’d managed to maintain a lot of her focus despite Donnie’s constant touching of her, but it wasn’t as though it was just Donnie who was doing the touching She was enjoying watching his thighs twitch when she ran her fingers over his scales.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the end of the second movie, Raph called it a night but left the lair. April didn’t need to think much about that to know that he was going to see his salamandrian girlfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does he go to see her every night?” April asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup, well, they are trying for a baby, having a lot of sex does increase their chances.” Donnie whispered and April tried not to laugh and grimace, she didn’t really want to think about Raph and Mona having sex.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The third movie, Brightburn, was a bit too much for April even after having seen if before and was surprised that Raph hadn’t stayed, she was sure that he would have enjoyed the film. Casey and Mikey were very drawn into it, which meant that Donnie and April could focus on each other, trying to be as quiet as they could as they made out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you guys even watch the film?” Mikey asked and the two jumped apart, looking sheepishly at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t watch much when you’re stuck to someone else’s face.” Casey chuckled and Donnie threw a pillow at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut it Jones.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatever D, hey, if it’s okay with you guys I’m gonna crash here tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m beginning to think you live here.” Donnie said as he and April stood up from the couch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh dude, you should totally move in!” Mikey said and he and Casey started a conversation between themselves, giving Donnie and April time to slip away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you like to stay here? Save you the journey back to yours tonight?” Donnie asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I guess...since it saves me the journey,” she grinned and held onto Donnie’s hand as he led her up to his bedroom. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Random note/thoughts from me - </p><p>I google 'What do Americans call____' so many times whilst writing my fics, there are so many differences in some words that just throw me off! Like, I have recently learnt that zucchini is just the American word for courgette, I thought it was a different vegetable with a fancy name, you learn something new every day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. March - Flutter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Didn’t we watch that film the other night with the guys?” Karai asked when April set the Scream DVD on their coffee table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, weel, me and Donnie are going to watch it tonight...we didn’t really pay attention to it before…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you were far more interested in each other.” Karai teased, enjoying making her friend blush. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well…” April shrugged and checked her phone for the time, Donnie would be here in just under ten minutes. “Are you going out tonight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? Do you want the apartment all to yourselves?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can stay if you want, I don’t care, but if you could stay in your room that would be great.” April said with a tight smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll leave, maybe I’ll go to a club, I’d rather not be locked up in my room for the entire night having to listen to the two of you have sex.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not going to be having sex tonight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We haven’t had sex yet.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why the hell not? You clearly both want to jump each other’s bones and have for years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know...and surprisingly it’s me that’s the problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Karai asked, switching from teasing to serious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t even explain it but...I feel so much more when I’m with Donnie. It was nothing like that with the other guys and I dunno it’s just kinda scary?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess I understand what you mean...I think that’s why it took me and Leo so long to actually sleep together and even longer to actually become a couple...I can handle casual sex fine but having sex with someone I had actual feelings for was too much for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had this idea in my head of teaching Donnie a thing or two because I’d thought he’d never had the chance to have sex but now I know that he says the same amount of experience as me...I’ve lost some of the confidence I had before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would have thought that you’d be less worried with both of you knowing what was going on but maybe you should just talk things out, find what you’re both comfortable with.” Karai suggested and April sighed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know but those conversations are just so awkward.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Things have been more awkward between you two before, this can’t be any worse.” Karai said and left before April could continue talking. Karai talked a lot more about things nowadays but she was still more of a person of action.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With Karai gone, she just had to wait for Donnie to arrive, even though he was usually slightly early she still had some time to kill and decided to get some snacks and drinks ready, maybe some alcohol to get rid of her nerves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d left the window open for Donnie so that he could get in easily and not have to wait if April was out of the room. She thought he would make some noise when he was coming in as he had no need to be so quiet when it was just the two of them but when she closed the fridge door he had been standing behind it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit Donnie!” April yelled, clutching the bottle of wine to her chest. “We’re meant to be watching a scary movie, not making one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, it was the perfect opportunity, I couldn’t resist...could you not sense me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I was concentrating on getting the wine! And you’re early!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I couldn’t focus on anything and thought you wouldn’t mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I don’t.” April said, moving around the kitchen to get the snacks she had planned to get. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And we’re having wine?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” She grinned at him. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be opposed to a repeat of New Years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would not be opposed,” he grinned back and April bit her lip as her face began heating up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I still haven’t seen that video.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to?” Donnie asked as he opened up one of her cupboards to get April’s wine glasses and then followed her to the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not sure if I do or not, I mean you’ve told me what happened and I trust you more than Karai to tell me what actually happened.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well if you ever want to see it, Karai sent it to me.” Donnie said as he placed the wine glasses down onto the table before removing his bo staff so he could sit down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did she send it to you?” April asked as she began pouring the wine into their glasses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you think?” Donnie laughed and April rolled her eyes, of course, what a stupid question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s such a pain in the ass.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s Karai.” Donnie laughed and shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah...anyway, should we get this movie started?” April asked as she waved the DVD at Donnie who nodded. She quickly put the disc in and settled back into the couch, pressing herself close to Donnie who placed his arm around her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were less than ten minutes into the film when Donnie began playing with her hair again and occasionally massaging the back of her neck. She was struggling, yet again, to watch this movie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why I thought that I was going to be able to focus on the movie with just us watching it.” April groaned and Donnie smiled against her neck before placing a kiss there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, did you want to watch the movie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not anymore.” April said as she turned to her side. “I’d much rather be doing this,” she said before pulling Donnie flush against her by his chest strap. April squeaked into Donnie’s mouth when his hands went straight to her boobs and squeezed. Damn, he was a lot more confident than she ever thought he would be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he said and backed away at the sound of her squeal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s okay you just took me by surprise,” she said, pulling Donnie back to her so they could continue kissing and Donnie began fondling her breasts again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>April could feel her panties getting damp, an embarrassing unfamiliar feeling as it had previously taken her so much to get her going, but this was different, this was Donnie. She started shifting, unconsciously, away from him again and he broke their kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April...it’s okay if you want to take things further...it’s also okay if you don’t want to but it would help if you’d...let me know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry Donnie...I’m not used to...feeling so much and it’s confusing to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” April’s face started to change colour.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April you can tell me anything, be as explicit as you want if it helps you to explain things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...um, it sounds ridiculous but...I’ve never been turned on this much before and it’s freaking me out?” April said and Donnie tried to keep a straight face, he really did, but it really did things to his ego that out of her previous partners he was the one that affected her the most and turned her by doing very little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...um, so we can take things slow and when things get too much or uncomfortable, just tell me to stop.” Donnie suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, what did you want to do first? Hand stuff?” Donnie grinned and held up his huge hands, thinking about how his hands on her breasts had worked her up, she wondered how she would feel with them elsewhere. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want to do that to me?” That made Donnie frown. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why wouldn’t I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, my ex’s weren’t exactly thrilled when I wanted them to...do stuff to me, so I’m just not used to it…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I want to,” he said and stood up and April gave him a confused look. “Better to do this on a bed than on a couch, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, of course.” April said as she hopped off the couch, quickly turned the movie off and then followed Donnie to her bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d always let her partner take the lead when it came to sex but she knew that now she’d confessed to Donnie about her overwhelming feelings, she would have to be the one directing things to make sure she was comfortable with everything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie removed his belt and nothing else before sitting down on the end of her bed. He held his arms out to her and she happily stepped into the space. With him sat down he was eye level with her boobs and he happily planted his face into them, making her laugh, easing some of her tension. It also gave her the confidence to take her top off and her bra quickly followed, leaving Donnie staring at her bare chest for the first time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow…” Donnie said and slowly raised his hand until they were resting by the sides of her breasts, brushing against them slightly. He moved his thumbs against the soft pale flesh, moving inwards towards her nipples, drawing a soft gasp out of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t used to such soft treatment, her previous boyfriends had been nothing but rough with her breasts, treating them like playdoh. Now she had a boyfriend with large callous hands yet he couldn’t have been any more gentler, not that she would be complaining if Donnie decided to get a little rough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of his hands left her after a few minutes of fondling and began pawing with the waistband of her pants. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this okay?” Donnie asked, moving his other hand to her hip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” April sighed out, but pushed him away from her so she could get onto the bed. Once she was on her back, she lifted her hips so he could take her pants off, followed quickly by her panties. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie had become frozen in place as he stared at April’s open legs and she suddenly began feeling self conscious...she hadn’t shaved in nearly a week, she hadn’t showered after her shift and she had definitely got more than a bit sweaty at work that day. She tried to push those thoughts away, he was probably looking at her because he liked what he saw, something he had been dreaming about since he was a teenager, she tried to boost her ego.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was definitely thinking about how his imagination had never come close to how beautiful she would be like this. He turned around so he was kneeling between her open thighs. One hand went to the thigh on his right and the other went to her stomach, running his hand against the soft warm skin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re so beautiful April.” Donnie said and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down to her for a kiss. The movement made both of his hands slide upwards and he could feel the warmth coming from her as well as some dampness on her inner thigh which made him moan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He broke their kiss so that he could focus on what his hands were about to be doing. The hand on her stomach moved to her hip and held it tightly, whilst he slid the top of one of his fingers into her and despite the size of that finger, he slipped in very easily and continued until he was a couple of inches in before he pulled it back out and started a thrusting motion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April tried to hold back a high pitched cry when Donnie’s thumb reached up to her clit, the large digit putting more pressure on it than her dainty finger could ever do and when he began moving that finger well...there was no point having a vibrator now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh god Donnie, please, faster…” April moaned shamelessly, he’d only been going for maybe just over five minutes and she could barely keep herself still, luckily Donnie was doing that by holding her hip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this good?” Donnie asked, trying not to grin. He began moving his finger in and out of her faster and he rubbed and circled her clit, making it vibrate more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>April opened her mouth but she couldn’t reply to him with words anymore, only a string of groans and moans and some other noises that she had never made before. She could feel her orgasm approaching, a fluttering in her stomach and then, with an embarrassing squeal, she came.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wow, that was a record. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He continued his ministrations throughout her orgasm until he was sure she was finished and gently pulled his finger out of her and into his mouth, cleaning it off her juices. April groaned, having seen what he had done through her barely open eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was that good?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh god Donnie that was more than good.” April smiled, brushing her bangs out of her face, some of the strands remained stuck to her damp forehead, wow, she’d never been his </span>
  <em>
    <span>sweaty </span>
  </em>
  <span>because of sex, she barely felt any different before or after unless she was the one on top but apparently Donnie could get her like this with her on her back barely moving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do...do you want me to…?” April asked, but Donnie covered himself up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No it’s okay, maybe another night...you look like you’re going to pass out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was really good…” April smiled as she relaxed back against the sheets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie quickly excused himself to the bathroom to take care of himself, as much as he would have liked April to do that for him, he knew how tired she was and didn’t want to force her to do anything, he wasn’t going to be like one of her ex boyfriends and make it all about himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was already asleep by the time he came back into the room and he removed the rest of his gear before he tucked himself in behind his girlfriend, pulling a blanket over them both.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Damn, when they go all the way April is gonna pass out!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. March - Rabbit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She’d been thrilled when she’d been asked to pick up some extra shifts, thinking of the money she would be earning and how much it would help her out but as soon as she’d said yes to those shifts she was rapidly picking up others and she became her manager's go to option to cover the shifts needed. And more shifts meant less free time and less time to spend with her new boyfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course she had such an amazing boyfriend that this wasn’t a problem, they couldn’t see each other as often in person but they text and she always called him on her break and when she got home. It also made the time that they spent together in person even more important but they couldn’t always spend time together alone, she didn’t want to alienate her friends again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as she knew that she had a day off, she’d let Donnie know and he was round her apartment as soon as she had finished her shift, so that he could stay the night and they could spend all of the next day together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as Donnie came through her window, she was on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Miss me?” Donnie laughed after April was still clinging onto him after five minutes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So much, I feel like I’m working two full time jobs at work...I do like the job but when I took up a part time position I didn’t think I’d be doing so many hours, obviously...but I can’t say no to some extra money.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As long as you’re not going to wear yourself April” Donnie said as he began to massage her shoulders which felt so good after a long shift and having to do a bunch of work in the warehouse, lifting heavy boxes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know but I really need the money and I don’t want to turn a shift down and for them to think that I don’t want to pick up any extra ones.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there anything I can do to help you relax?” Donnie asked and April would have taken that question innocently, if it hadn’t been for the look on her boyfriend’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m not going to say no.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh and what have I walked in on?” Karai asked, leaning on the doorframe to the main room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing Karai,” April said, rolling her eyes before pulling Donnie towards her, wanting away from Karai’s prying eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will we be competing tonight?” Karai asked as the two passed her to get to April’s bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neither responded to her but April made sure to slam her door. She didn’t even know that Leo was in the apartment but she didn’t want to think about him or Karai right now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t think Leo was here, he never mentioned he was going anywhere.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie,” she said as she took her boyfriend's hands in her much smaller ones. “I really don’t want to be talking and thinking about your brother right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, yes, of course, sorry,” he rambled out before ducking down to give April a kiss. “Do you want to...lay down on the bed?” That was his way of asking her if she wanted him to use his finger to fuck her until she saw stars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>April didn’t say a word as she undressed and lay back against her bedding. Her heart started to pick up pace when Donnie kneeled onto the bed and got into position between her legs. They rarely needed to use lube when he’d finger her, she was usually very wet and ready to go but they had a large bottle of lube on standby if they needed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we try something else tonight?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like what?” Apri asked and tried not to whine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like to go down on you...if that’s okay?” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh fuck yes that was more than okay, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she thought but instead she said;</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“God Donnie, of course it’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gave her a wide smile before he got into a more comfortable position on his plastron, between her legs, his hands holding the back of April’s thighs and spreading them out wide.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nuzzled his face against her before painting a wet stripe from the bottom of her vulva to her clit which he gave a gentle suck, April really liked that. She’d had very few experiences with a guy going down on her and she’d usually just have to fake an orgasm to get them to stop and she was nothing but sore from what they’d been doing to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie knew what he was doing and he was good at it. His tongue was wide and long, reaching deep inside her and able to lick all of her in one swipe, she was utterly and truly ruined, no man would ever come close to how good Donnie was at this and it made her both worried and excited about going all the way with him, would she pass out after? Would she be able to walk?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pressure was too much for her as well as her thoughts about her and Donnie having sex.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh...Oh god, Donnie…” April muttered as she pushed Donnie’s head down against her as she came, her head pressed to the side as her back arched. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Good thing for Don was that he was very good at holding his breath, as it seemed that April wasn’t going to let him up. It took her another three minutes before she realised she was still holding onto him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry…” She panted out but Donnie had a smile on his face, very happy for a turtle who’d almost suffocated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” April panted and put her hands over her eyes, she still felt slightly embarrassed about how intense her orgasms were with Donnie, even though she had nothing to be embarrassed about, she still felt out of sorts about receiving so much. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, I’m gonna go and clean up…” Donnie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There should be some wet wipes in the top drawer.” April said and Donnie reached over her to open it and froze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow.” April pulled her hands away to see the bright flush on his face. She shot up to see what it was that Donnie had seen, here sat in her top drawer, out of its usual space was her rabbit vibrator. It had been a gift that Karai had gotten her the Christmas before last, much to her embarrassment and was glad that Karai had told her to open it in private. She couldn’t believe Karai had bought her a sex toy and she’d thrown the box into her bottom drawer with a bunch of other stuff she barely ever used.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god, that’s...I mean, I’ve never used it!” April cried, her face, which had been steadily cooling down, was now bright red and burning once again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April it’s okay,” Donnie smiled at her. “You’re a grown woman it’s okay to own and use sex toys...I gotta admit though I don’t really know too much about them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a rabbit vibrator.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A...rabbit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The little bits on the clit stimulator look like rabbit ears, that’s why they call it that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Donnie said, looking back at the vibrator with great interest now. “Would you like to try it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought the point of that was that I use it alone because I didn’t have anyone to have sex with.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Couples use sex toys all the time April, it makes things more fun, keeps things from getting boring...plus I would really like to use this on you.” Donnie said, his voice dropping slightly at the end and April felt her vagina clench and throb. Donnie was going into scientist mode and she was more than happy to be experimented on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay…” April said and gave Donnie a smile as she spread her legs once again, feeling slightly sore but excited for what was about to happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie positioned the toy and then slowly slid it into her until the rabbit ears were level with her clit and then  the toy began to vibrate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh god…” April moaned and tried not to squirm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie smirked, even though April couldn’t see it behind her closed eyes and began moving the toy in and out, moving the ears away from her clit, but she could still the vibrations against her and the movement of it. She was still too sensitive to go another round but it still felt good and it would take her even less time to climax this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hips were rocking with the movements and she bit her lip, almost making it bleed. The vibrations were becoming too much and she didn’t even realise that Donnie’s hand had stopped moving and it was just her who was thrusting the vibrator in and out of herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oooh, Donnie…” April cried out when she felt herself getting close and then she was hit by her second orgasm of the night which wasn’t as good as her first but damn, it still felt amazing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was still coming down from her orgasm when she realised that Donnie had moved off the bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just going to go to the bathroom.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to.” April said and raised herself up onto her elbows. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, please, I feel like all I’m doing is taking...I can do things for you too you know,” she said as she sat up and pulled him back onto the bed so that he was kneeling and she straddling one of his thighs He groaned when he felt her dampness on his thigh and tried to think of something else but couldn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to.” April said and Donnie took a deep breath before speaking again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just let me know if you want to stop and I don’t mind if you don’t want to go through with things because you don’t like what you see and…” April shut him up with a kiss. When she broke their kiss, she looked down at his body, expecting to see his erection, but there was nothing there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, um, a little...nervous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, it works both ways, we do whatever you’re comfortable with and we can stop at any time,” she said and gave Donnie a kiss before moving off his thigh and waiting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Donnie let out a deep breath and suddenly his erection dropped down from what looked like a wide slit in his lower plastron. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She can’t help but be impressed by his size, she’d done her research on turtles a long time ago and knew that their penises were, well, huge, but was sure that their mutation had changed something and it definitely had, although he was still longer and thicker than any dick she’d seen, he was still very much compatible with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shivered involuntary and Donnie tried not to frown at her reaction but she could sense how he was feeling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>much</span>
  </em>
  <span> bigger than my ex’s...it’s exciting and scary at the same time.” April admitted honestly and it brought a smile to Donnie’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like we said, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to and…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, I know, I’ll tell you if I get uncomfortable and we’ll stop.” April smiled at him before moving closer so that she could wrap her hand, as much as she could, around Donnie’s cock. He was very wet, which she thought must be something to do with him being a turtle, but that didn’t gross her out, it was a bonus that made it easier to move her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She began moving her hand faster along him and swirled two of her small fingers across the tip of his penis which made him shudder, so she did it again and again, before returning to stroking him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April…” Donnie groaned, a squeaking noise coming from his as his head tilted backwards and his eyes shut. He was close, she could tell. She tried to move as fast as she could and paid more attention to the more sensitive areas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“April, I’m gonna…” Donnie began to say and then he erupted, quite literally. She was surprised by how much came out of him and how long his orgasm lasted, she hadn’t exactly timed it but he must have been going for at least five minutes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he was finally finished, she had to ask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow...um, was that normal?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yes...not always but sometimes they can be long and it has been a while and…” April shut him up with a kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie, don’t freak out it was just a question.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right, sorry, it’s just...different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Different isn’t always bad and that definitely wasn’t...just a little shocking and I wanted to be prepared if this happens often.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...sorry I freaked out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be sorry, I’ve freaked out on you enough.” April said and they both laughed. “So...wanna take a shower with me? I think we both need one.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. March - Nature Walk</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Even though it was March and it was still fairly cool in the evening, Donnie had suggested that they spend their evening by taking a walk in Central Park which had surprised April but he said that he was going to bundle up, wear some baggy clothing he and his brothers had procured as well as his big puffy purple jacket and the matching scarf, hat and gloves that April had knitted specially for him a number of years back. It had taken her almost an entire year to complete it but it had been worth it for the look on Donnie’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d also received requests from the rest of the guys for their own sets which had given her something to do in her downtime, not that she had a great deal of it throughout the years she’d known them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>April had agreed to meet Donnie at the lair as it was closer to the area of Central Park they wanted to go to. Just as she was coming up to the turnstiles, she saw Raph coming out of the lair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Raph, where are you heading?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just gonna go see Mona.” Raph said with a smile and she immediately smiled back, feeling such positive emotions and love radiating off of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Things are going really well for you guys aren’t they?” Raph’s smile dropped and a blush covered his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s great...maybe you should bring Mona to one of our movie nights? It’s been ages since I’ve seen her and I’ve love to catch up with her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah, I can ask if she wants to come along.” April could feel hostility coming off of Raph all of a sudden and she wondered what she had done, all she had done was talk about Mona. “Is everything okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I gotta go.” Raph said and took off in a quick run to get away from the conversation. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What the hell?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Shaking off the weird encounter, April walked into the lair and went straight in search of her boyfriend, who was, for once, not in the lab and was standing in the pit, next to the television and a very worried looking Michelangelo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey guys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey April,” Donnie called back, “sorry I won’t be too much longer, I just have to finish fixing this so Mikey will actually let us leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Raph.” Don and Mikey said at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, okay.” April replied, although she was even more confused, Raph was happy when he had left the lair, not angry, well, until she had somehow managed to upset him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah he was in a mood until Mona phoned him and then he was all smiles.” Donnie chuckled, almost as though he had read her mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I bet.” April sighed and smiled. “So, who or what was it this time that pissed Raph off?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would be me.” Mikey grinned, with no shame. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I won’t ask what you did then because I probably don’t want to know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “There we go Mikey, all done...maybe don’t piss Raph off when he comes home because I’m not going to be fixing this again so soon, I have other things to be doing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, thanks D you can leave me and the TV alone now.” Mikey said as he shuffled even closer to the television and began flicking through programmes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay...let me just grab my stuff and I’ll be ready to go.” Donnie smiled at his girlfriend, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before running off to his lab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Staying in on your own tonight then Mikey?” April said, unable to keep the tease from her voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone else is busy.” Mikey pouted even though his gaze remained on the television. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No special friend for you to visit?” Mikey’s face scrunched up and he turned to glare at April. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now you sound like my bros, no, there’s no one special for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was just curious Mikey, you must have a lot of free time now that your brothers all have partners.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“More time for TV and video games, I’m not complaining Ape.” Mikey said before rolling his eyes and turning back to the tv screen, happy to end the conversation there and since April was picking up on some anger and resentment she decided to leave it alone and walk back towards the turnstiles to wait for Donnie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>April tried to hide her smile as Donnie came out of his lab wearing his purple jacket and purple hat, scarf and gloves she had made him as well as some pants.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Got everything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think so.” Donnie grinned. “Let’s head out.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>April had noticed Donnie shiver as soon as they climbed out of the sewers and tried to ignore what Donnie was being projecting but eventually after they reached the park, she had to ask. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you’re not too cold?” Over the years she’d become more and more aware of how much certain things affected her cold blood friends, especially since they were mostly naked a great deal of the time. She could just put on some extra clothes and a coat if needed, and she’d be fine, she might even get a bit hot if she walked quickly or walked for a long time. But Donnie would still be cold with all his extra clothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine April, no need to worry about me,” he chuckled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t help it.” April chuckled back. “So, there’s a part of the park that I walk around often, some nights when I couldn’t sleep...maybe we could walk over there and there’s a bench if you wanted to sit down…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That sounds great...lead the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The walk was around half an hour and gave the two of them a chance to catch up on what had happened since they’d last spoken, which wasn’t really that long but Donnie told her all about the uncalled for rage fit that Raph had pulled that caused the TV to be busted and all because Mikey made a joke about Raph ‘shooting blanks’ since he and Mona hadn’t had an success on the baby front. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Raph was really weird with me when I was walking into the lair, do you think that he was because of that or something else?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What else would it be?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, we haven’t really spent a great deal of time together alone, maybe he’s mad at me because of that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If Raph was mad at you he would just tell you.” Donnie laughed but April could feel that Donnie was also suspicious and confused as to why he would be so distant with her. She decided not to say anything more on the subject, sometime she would purposely seek Raph out and talk to him in private and clear the air out if there was a problem between them that she wasn’t aware of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A half hour later April had led Donnie to her favourite spot and they sat down on the bench April would usually sit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a nice spot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, a surprisingly quiet part of the city, away from everything...it wasn’t easy to find.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad that you shared this with me.” Donnie said, squeezing her hand and then gave her a kiss, on the corner of her mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Knowing they had very little chance of getting caught in this secluded part of the park, April turned to her side and took advantage of Donnie’s mouth being so close to hers and kissed him. As with most of their make out sessions, it didn’t take too long for things to get heated and for April to feel that very familiar warmth between her legs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, look at them aren’t they cute,” they heard a high pitched voice say and they froze where they were. From the angle they were in, Donnie’s face couldn’t be seen by the couple that were walking past them and most of him was covered by April almost sitting in his lap. She turned her face so that she could flash them a smile and they would go on their way and they soon walked off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t think anyone else would be around this time and in this area.” April frowned, she spent many evenings around here when she needed to clear her head or get out of the apartment and she had rarely run into anyone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay, they didn’t see anything...if they did they would have had a much different reaction.” Donnie chuckled but April felt the pain behind it. She didn’t want Donnie to feel any negative feelings whilst he was out with her, on a date. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to come back to mine to warm up?” April asked and immediately realised how it sounded and groaned. “That was not some lame line, I genuinely don’t want you to get too cold and get sick, we’ve been out here long enough.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to come back to yours April.” Donnie said, grinning. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Donnie had shed his clothing as soon as they got into the warm apartment. He’d hung up his coat and scarf and folded up his trousers and shirt, putting them on a chair with his hat and gloves before April had thrown a blanket over his shoulders and directed him to the couch. She’d made him a decaf coffee and one for herself as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she returned Donnie was watching the late night news, eyes drooping as he tried to remain awake. As soon as April sat down next to him, he leaned into her and used the arm that wasn’t holding his coffee to wrap around her, using her as a heater which she was more than happy to be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d only taken a few sips of her own coffee before she heard a faint whistling, indicating that Donnie had fallen asleep on her. Carefully, she took the mug out of his hands and placed it on the side table, she was going to get herself comfortable against her turtle boyfriend but it still wasn’t warm enough to sleep against her cold blooded boyfriend without a blanket of her own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She got up carefully from the couch and made her way out of the room to go to her bedroom. She was going to go straight to her room but she could hear hushed voices from Karai’s room, which made her suspicious, Karai never whispered unless she was hiding something. She reached out with her powers and was hit by a wave of both sadness and anger and it wasn’t just coming from Karai, it was coming from Leo as well. Soon those whispers grew louder and they started shouting at each other, so April left, she had intruded enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grabbed her blanket from her bed and as she came out of her room she nearly ran straight into Leo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hi Leo, I didn’t know you were here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So that wasn’t you listening in at the door just now?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um...okay, I was just seeing if Karai was home, I heard some whispering and then it got louder and I realised you were in there as well and then I left...I didn’t hear anything, I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t have cared if you did April.” Leo said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m heading out so I’ll see you later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Donnie’s asleep on the couch…” April started to say and then realised she didn’t have to tell a ninja to be quiet, especially not Leo, it was second nature for him to be silent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry I won’t wake him.” And then he was gone and left April standing in her doorway wondering if she should go and see if Karai was okay or go back to her boyfriend. In the end she decided to go back to Donnie, not wanting to annoy Karai if she was already in a bad mood, she knew that Karai would come to her if she was needed. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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